New Delhi: For the Congress, it will truly be a merry Christmas! After managing to hit the jackpot in Maharashtra by latching on to the NCP, the party scored again in Jharkhand. While the JMM led the charge, the Congress too did well for itself by improving its tally from six to 14 Assembly seats.
The result came a surprise for the party too as the state unit was faction ridden. The earlier state unit chief, Ajoy Kumar, had resigned after hitting out at state leaders just two months before the polls. The Congress managed to do well as it kept itself confined to semi-urban areas, leaving the tribal belt for its bigger ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
After the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress changed its stand in the state and gave the JMM the big brother role, and also accommodated Rashtriya Janata Dal in its flock.
The party, accepting the ground realities, gave the larger share of seats to the JMM, that contested 43 seats.
The Congress contested 31 and the RJD seven. However, playing second fiddle to the JMM did not go down well with many senior party leaders, who camped in New Delhi to get tickets for their supporters. But after getting inputs from Central observers, the Congress leadership went ahead with the “coalition dharma”, and also agreed to announce the JMM’s Hemant Soren as chief minister candidate of the alliance.
The Congress’ pragmatic approach is also indicative of the “fight to the finish” attitude of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In the past four months since she took charge as party chief, the Congress has gone into three Assembly elections, of which the party is in the ruling alliance in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
In Haryana, due to a delay in the change of leadership, the Congress managed to double its tally. AICC’s Jharkhand in-charge R.P.N. Singh was mostly in the state assessing the situation and keeping the high command in the loop for any necessary intervention.
