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Bihar's tribal belt sees some interesting contests

Former and present Union ministers, ten legislators of the Bihar assembly and regional presidents of two national political parties are in the fray from this tribal belt for parliamentary elections on September 18.

Two Union ministers who are trying their luck once again are Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Minister of State for Forest and Environment Babu Lal Marandi from Hazaribagh and Dumka (ST) constituencies respectively. Former Union ministers K K Tewari and Karia Munda are in the run for Ranchi and Khunti (ST).

The BJP has fielded its Vananchal regional chief from Lohardagga. The Jharkhand regional Congress chief is in the race from Khunti, opposite Jharkhand Party president

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has fielded its vice president and vice chairman of the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council from Godda parliamentary constituency.

The members of the state assembly trying to find a berth in the lower house are Shushila Kerketta (Khunti), Furkan Ansari (Godda), Rajendra Singh, Shiva Mahato (Giridih), Champai Soren, Lakshman Gilwa (Singhbhum ST), Vishwanath Bhagat -- Lohardagga (ST), N E Horo (Khunti), Aklu Ram Mahato and Tek Lal Mahato (Hazaribagh).

Last year, eight members of the Bihar legislature had unsuccessfully contested parliamentary elections from the Jharkhand region.

Jharkhand veteran N E Horo, who represents the Torpa assembly seat, is once again in the race from the tribal-dominated Khunti constituency for the ninth time in a row. Horo, who had won this seat in 1971 and 1980 as a Jharkhand nominee, is this time pitted against sitting MP and BJP candidate Karia Munda and Jharkhand regional Congress chief and legislator from Khunti assembly segment Shushila Kerketta.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, former minister Karia Munda won this seat for the fourth time in a row defeating Kerketta by more than 39,900 votes. Horo, who faced a split in the pro-Jharkhand votes with JMM nominee Ramdayal Munda in the race, had managed just 9.41 per cent of the votes.

Khunti, the native place of tribal demigod Birsa Munda, is likely to witness a triangular contest with the JMM not fielding its nominee for this seat in favour of N E Horo.

Singhbhum is another tribal reserved seat, where sitting MP Vijay Singh Soy of the Congress is again in the run for the third time facing an interesting four-cornered challenge from the representatives of the two assembly segments in the constituency and Jharkhand Front chief convenor Krishna Mardi.

The JMM has fielded its legislator from Saraikela Champai Soren for this seat, replacing the legislator from Jagannthpur, Mandal Singh Bobonga, who had contested the last Lok Sabha elections on its ticket.

The BJP, in a bid to wrest this tribal seat which it represented in 1996, has fielded its legislator from Chakardharpur, Lakshman Gilua. Gilua, who had joined the BJP in 1994 and was made the party's nominee for the Chakardharpur assembly constituency in 1995, is currently in judicial custody in connection with two criminal cases in Saraikela. He even filed his nomination papers from jail. However, the BJP has already refused to disown him saying, ''He is not a criminal as he has been falsely implicated in a conspiracy hatched by Soy.''

In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, Soy defeated the BJP candidate by a margin of just 10,830 votes. The JMM nominee Bobonga, coming third had secured 24.39 per cent votes.

The Lohardagga (ST) constituency is also poised to witness an intriguing battle with JMM legislator from Mandar assembly segment Vishwanath Bhagat and BJP's Vananchal committee chief Dukha Bhagat making all round efforts to break the Congress bastion.

This seat has been represented by the congress six times since 1967, twice by the BJP (1991 and 1996) and once by the Bharatiya Lok Dal.

The Lohardagga (ST) seat had been won by Congress candidate Indernath Bhagat in 1998, defeating his nearest BJP rival Lalit Oraon by a margin of 19,397 votes. The BJP has replaced Oraon with its Vananchal chief Dukha Bhagat which, political observers feel, may slightly affect the party's prospects following the intra-party resentment.

The presence of rebel Congress leader Amar Oraon as the nominee of the Ajeya Bharat Party has made the contest multi-cornered, giving a few sleepless nights to sitting MP Indernath Bhagat.

Congress legislator from Jamtara assembly segment in Santhalparagan area of South Bihar is in the run for the godda parliamentary seat for the second time. Ansari, working president of the Jharkhand regional Congress, had contested this seat in 1996 receiving only 62,888 votes when the seat had gone to BJP nominee Jagdambi Yadav who had polled 2,22,866 votes.

The Congress did not go for this seat in 1998 as under a poll pact with the RJD the seat had been left for JMM-Soren vice president Suraj Mandal. Mandal, who is again in the race for the fifth time in a row, had won this seat in 1991 while last time he was placed second defeated by BJP's Jagdambi Yadav even after having polled 2,58,335 votes.

The Jharkhand Front -- a political grouping of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Ulgulan, the Jharkhand Party (Horo), Jharkhand Peoples Party and Jharkhand Party (Naren) -- has fielded legislators Tek Lal Mahato and Shiva Mahato for the Hazaribagh and Giridih parliamentary seats respectively.

With Yashwant Sinha pitted against CPI nominee Ramendra Kumar, a strong critic of the economic policies of the Vajpayee government, the contest here would be worth watching.

Sinha, who polled 3,23,283 in the last elections, is contesting the Hazaribagh seat as a BJP nominee for the second time in a row. Earlier in 1984, he got 10,727 votes on the Janata Dal ticket.

However, the ruling RJD has fielded its minister Aklu Ram Mahato to reverse the trend. Mahato, known for his ''pro-Jharkhand'' stance, had openly opposed the party's stand against statehood.

In Giridih, Congress legislator from Bermo assembly segment Rajendra Singh, who is also the state president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, and JMM (Ulgulan) legislator from Dumri, Shiva Mahato, are in the fray.

Singh, who is fighting for the third time in a row, received 2,54,442 votes the last time but was defeated by his BJP rival Rabindra Kumar Pandey by more than 68,000 votes. The seat was also won by the BJP in 1989 and 1996. However in 1991 and 1992 (byelections) it went in favour of the erstwhile Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

The Ranchi parliamentary seat has gained significance of late with the presence of former Union minister for information and broadcasting K K Tewari as the Congress nominee amidst strong protest from the regional leaders.

Making all possible efforts to fight in unison, the Congress faces three time BJP winner Ramtahal Choudhary in this constituency.

Tewari, who hails from Buxar district in central Bihar, is for the first time in the electoral race from this region, which has been aspiring for the separated statehood status for over the last five decades.

The prestigious Ranchi parliamentary constituency had been won by the Congress in 1967,1971,1980 and 1984 while in 1989 the seat sent Sobodh Kant Sahay to the Lok Sabha as a Janata Dal representative.

The BJP dented this Congress bastion for the first time in 1991 and since then it has been reigning. In the last elections, BJP's Ramtahal Choudhary had defeated Congress nominee Keshav Mahato by 1,43,560 votes. Mahato, Congress legislator from Silli assembly segment of this parliamentary seat, has been denied a ticket this time and replaced by ''a person from outside Jharkhand'', Tewari.

The battle for ''this proposed capital of the new state'' would in all possibilities be a multi-cornered one, with the presence of JMM candidate Prem Chand Mahato, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) nominee Anat Prasad Gupta and a young student leader Ajay Rai from the Ajeya Bharat Party.

The Jharkhand region would also witness at least six former members of Parliament contesting the current elections from this region. They are Jorawar Ram (Palamau-SC), Thomas Hansda (Rajmahal), Simon Marandi (Rajmahal), A K Ray (Dhanbad), Tilakdhari Singh (Koderma) and Ramendra Kumar (Hazaribagh).

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