The Congress party has materialized 'mahagathbandhan' in Jharkhand with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Lok Sabha election 2019.
The Indian Nation Congress (INC) is planning to make a "grand alliance" with the like-minded parties in the state which has 14 seats in the Lower house of the parliament. Its performance in the last two elections has been abysmal with the fact that it could not even open its account in 2014 elections and managed to win only one seat in 2009 general elections.
The Congress party's performance in 2004 was in contrast with its performance in 2009 and 2014. It was the single largest party in the state winning six seats followed by the JMM's four, the RJD's two, and the CPI one seat. BJP also won only one seat that year.
In 2009 BJP performed better and grabbed 8 seats with JMM winning two seats the Congress one, and the JVM(P) one. Independent candidates won two seats that year.
The Print reported that the local Congress leadership involved in the negotiations said that the parties have reached a conclusion and an announcement would be made soon in the coming days.
RPN Singh, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader in-charge of Jharkhand said, "We have been launching agitations on the ground together and will contest together in 2019 to defeat the BJP.'' He further added that due deliberation is still being worked out between the parties. Congress is expecting to get the majority of seats when the division of seats takes place.
On the other hand, the BJP is trying to woo non-tribal voters in order to counter JMM which is a dominant party in the state. In fact, after its victory in 2014, he picked a non-tribal chief minister, Raghubar Das. The tribal population in the state stands at 28 percent. Opposition parties are banking on the anti-incumbency against the ruling BJP.
