US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

BJP gears up for an encore in Vananchal

The BJP is once again going to play the Vananchal card in its effort to repeat its past successful performances at the hustings in the Jharkhand region.

The saffron brigade virtually swept the tribal belt, pocketing 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats from the region in both the 1996 and 1998 general elections.

In a gradual takeover of the region's politics, the BJP wrested control from the Congress by using the issue of a separate Vananchal state as its trump card. The Congress, which in the 1984 general elections won all 14 seats from the area, was rendered almost a non-entity. Expectedly, the BJP will be gunning for all 14 seats in the coming election in alliance with the Samata Party.

The party is likely to field three new faces this time. According to BJP sources, the candidature of the sitting representatives in 11 constituencies of South Bihar had almost been cleared while for the remaining three, the party was likely to field new faces. The names doing the rounds for the Lohardagga (ST) seat which the BJP lost in 1998 are party legislator Sadhnu Bhagat and Vananchal committee chief Dukha Bhagat, while for the Singhbhum (ST) seat, the legislator from Chakardharpur, Lakshman Gilwa, is under strong consideration, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the electoral machinery of the party had already started its work in the 14 constituencies of South Bihar, by holding block level meetings. Striking a nationalistic chord, the party leaders were trying to stimulate the voters on the issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and the Congress's stand on the Kargil conflict.

The BJP leaders have already fanned out to the remotest of areas to highlight its government's achievements, from the Pokhran nuclear tests to the Kargil operations.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report