Babulal Marandi to contest from Koderma, Pradip Yadav from Godda
JVM (P) has been allotted Koderma and Godda Lok Sabha seat as part of the opposition grand alliance and the party’s central committee met on Saturday here and cleared the candidature of the two top leaders of the regional party.
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) chief and state’s first chief minister Babulal Marandi would contest from Koderma Lok Sabha seat, while party general secretary and five-term legislator Pradip Yadav would enter the fray from Godda constituency in Santhal Pargana division.
JVM (P) has been allotted Koderma and Godda Lok Sabha seat as part of the opposition grand alliance and the party’s central committee met on Saturday here and cleared the candidature of the two top leaders of the regional party.
One of the tallest tribal leaders in the state, Babulal Marandi, has won the Koderma seat, currently held by Ravindra Ray of the BJP, thrice in the past in 2004, 2006 and 2009. He lost in 2014 and had emerged third. The JVM (P) chief, who holds the distinction of being the first chief minister of Jharkhand, carved out of Bihar in 2000, also holds the uniqueness of having thrice won the Lok Sabha election from Koderma, a general seat.
Pradip Yadav, meanwhile, is a five-term legislator from the Poreyahat assembly seat in Godda district and had served as education minister in Bablulal Cabinet. The two leaders are founder members of JVM (P) after they quit the BJP to form JVM (P) in 2006.
Announcing the candidate names, party leader Bandhu Tirkey told reporters, “Babulal Marandi would win with record margins from Koderma as there is no one to challenge him. Unki kisi se ladai nahin hai (there is no contest).”
Ever since the grand alliance seat sharing formula was announced it was clear that Babulal would enter the fray from Koderma, but the BJP is still to announce its candidate. However, the BJP is likely to field former minister Annapurna Devi, the former RJD chief who recently joined the party, from the seat and sitting MP Ravindra Ray is likely to be axed.
While Marandi would be candidate of the grand opposition alliance, the seat is headed to a triangular contest as CPI (ML) has announced to field legislator Rajkumar Yadav as its candidate. The Rajdhanwar legislator had emerged second in 2014 Lok Sabha election polling over 2.6 lakh votes.
The JVM (P) was given Godda seat after several rounds of deliberations between the Congress and the JVM (P) as former Congress MP Furqan Ansari, who stood second in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had also staked his claim to the seat. The seat has a dominant Muslim population and Pradip Yadav had emerged on third position in last election.
However, the Congress party agreed to allot the seat to JVM (P). On the issue of minority voters getting annoyed with the candidature, Pradip Yadav told media that all minorities, tribal and poor are with the party.
“If one community which would 100% votes for the grand alliance it is the Muslim voters,” added Yadav.
