Its Convenor arrested in 1992 case, TMC says govt witch-hunt

Bokaro, March 22

TMC's state convenor Dilip Chatterjee was on Saturday arrested in Dhanbad and remanded to judicial custody in a 22-year-old case, with his party accusing the JMM government of a political witch-hunt.

Chatterjee was sent to 14-days' judicial custody for a 1992 attack on the convoy of then-Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad. Nine policemen were injured in the attack, carried out with bows and arrows, election symbol of the JMM. A Dhanbad court had issued an arrest warrant against him on Thursday.

"The Hemant Soren government is scared. It is trying to protect the murderer Jagarnath Mahto, but is sending people to jail in old cases," said TMC leader Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey, referring to JMM's Giridih candidate, named in a murder FIR.

Ironically, the case is from a period when Chatterjee was a member of the JMM. He rose to occupy the position of general secretary before leaving over differences with the coterie around Shibu Soren.

Since taking over the TMC's activities in the state, he has overseen exponential growth, often at the cost of the JMM. The party has two legislators now - Dadai Dubey, who switched over from the Congress, has since resigned his state Assembly membership.

Another JMM MLA leaves; govt on brink

Ranchi, March 12
This was published here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/soren-govt-in-trouble-as-another-mla-leaves-jmm/

The Hemant Soren government is on the brink as another MLA left the ruling coalition on Wednesday, with JMM's Hemlal Mumu joining the BJP in Delhi.

Murmu became the fifth legislator to leave the ruling coalition and join a party that is not in the JMM-Congress-RJD-Others alliance. On July 18 last year, the Hemant Soren government had passed its floor test with the support of 43 legislators, with 37 voting against.

Since, BJP's C.P. Singh, who presided over the House of 82 that day, has ceased to be Speaker and JMM man Shashank Shekhar Bhokta has taken over. However, it is not a straight transfer of seats to the Opposition, as the anti-defection law is likely to apply in the case of Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey, who moved from the Congress to the TMC, and Murmu.

The keys to the government, then, are with two TMC legislators. Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda, escaped the anti-defection law by merging their single-legislator parties into the TMC. Tirkey, in particular, is crucial to CM Soren as he was the legislator who had worked behind the scenes to bring together six other Independent legislators to vote for the government.

TMC's general secretary Mukul Roy had said in the past that his party would support Hemant's government for now, adding that the decision would be up for review post-Lok Sabha elections. However, that position seems to have undergone a change since "Dadai" Dubey joined the party since leaving the Congress after being denied the Dhanbad ticket. Dubey, who was fired from the Hemant cabinet after levelling corruption allegations against the CM, said that Hemant should resign. "I cannot tell you for sure where the TMC would go if there is a floor test tomorrow. However, the Hemant government should resign. It has lost numbers. Hemlal Murmu has left the JMM and he has taken MLAs away with him," he claimed.

There was to be more trouble for the JMM on Wednesday after MLA Simon Marandi, who has represented Rajmahal thrice in the Lok Sabha, expressed his disappointment with Hemant after being denied a ticket for his son. Marandi wanted his son to contest from Rajmahal but the party did not entertain him. "Hemant Soren is not running the government; his political advisor Himanshu Shekhar is," said Marandi in Ranchi.

That the government may not survive beyond the Lok Sabha polls was a known fact. At the time of the declaration of its alliance with the JMM, the Congress had said that the coming together was intended for the Lok Sabha elections. The Jharkhand government's fate then, is intrinsically linked to the results of the general election. With the state scheduled to go to polls early in 2015, there may not be time for another government to take over in case this experiment fails.

Murmu is likely to contest from the Rajmahal constituency on a BJP ticket. He had represented Rajmahal in the 14th Lok Sabha and was miffed after JMM recruited Vijay Hansda from the Youth Congress to contest from the seat.

Murmu was the second JMM legislator to join another party on Wednesday - Kameshwar Baitha, the party's MP from Palamu, joined the TMC at Mamata Banerjee's Delhi rally. Baitha had expressed a desire to join the BJP, which was hesitant to have the former Maoist, who with 46 had the most criminal cases against an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha, in its ranks.

Dubey goes to TMC; Congress makes Sahay wait

Ranchi, March 9

Former minister in the Hemant Soren cabinet and Congress legislator from Vishrampur Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Sunday after being denied the Dhanbad seat.

Dubey's name did not figure in the list of six candidates released by the Congress on Saturday and he promptly went over to the TMC, which offered him the Dhanbad ticket.

It was another coup for the TMC, which has been going about acquiring disgruntled leaders all over the state. Dubey is the party's third legislator; TMC is yet to have even a state unit. However, sources close to him said he would soon resign as a legislator as the anti-defection law would apply.

There were more surprises from the Congress when it came to distribution of candidatures - the decision on the Ranchi seat has been delayed while the Pradesh Congress President would not contest. The INC, scheduled to contest from eight constituencies, announced only six seats in its first list.

Subodh Kant Sahay, the Ranchi legislator and lone MP of the party from Jharkhand, did not find a place in the list on Saturday. "We are all quite surprised that the party was not decisive and seems to be hesitating on declaring his candidature," said a senior leader who did not want to be quoted. There is a perception that Sahay, a former Union minister, did not perform well this tenure but most party leaders assumed that he would be retained. Regional news channels reported that an individual from outside the state could be the party's nominee this time. A delegation of Sahay's supporters returned from Delhi on Sunday after lobbying for their leader.

Also missing from the Congress list was PCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat, widely tipped to be the party's candidate from Lohardaga. "The highcommand has decided that the party presidents of Jharkhand and Bihar should concentrate on campaigning," said Shailendra Sinha, PCC spokesperson. Lohardaga has been entrusted with Rameshwar Oraon, Chairperson of the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes, who won from the constituency in 2004 but lost in 2009.

Meanwhile, Savita Mahato, widow of former deputy CM Sudhir Mahato has excused herself from being the JMM's Jamshedpur candidate. She cited personal reasons. Recently-widowed, Mahato was initally the JMM nominee for the Rajya Sabha elections this year before the party withdrew her candidature.

TMC wants Jharkhand

Ranchi, March 7
This was published here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/in-jharkhand-trinamool-pushes-for-space-dents-jmm/99/

In its quest to emerge as the largest regional party in the 16th Lok Sabha, the All India Trinamool Congress is making an aggressive push into Jharkhand.

Even before the formation of its state unit, the party has managed to capture its first legislators here, convincing two single-MLA-parties to merge with it. This, on top of getting Shibu Soren's younger brother and JMM's Bokaro district president Lalu Soren on board.

After Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda - since declared the party's candidates for Ranchi and Lohardaga respectively - it is as if the floodgates opened. The name of almost every leader likely to be ignored by their respective parties in ticket distribution have been associated with the TMC - Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey and Stephen Marandi of the Congress, and Paulus Surin of the JMM among them.

Some of these individuals are likely to stay with their parties, but the TMC does not deny it has been talking them. So much so, political parties across the state are waiting with pregnant indignation for the second candidates' list of the TMC, expected on Sunday.

All this, from a party that was widely derided for a poorly-attended rally in Ranchi on January 11. The party's Rajya Sabha MP K.D. Singh, who has since resigned from his Jharkhand seat, was the main organiser. That day also marked his first official event in Jharkhand since being elected in 2010. Singh, chairman emeritus of the Chandigarh-based Alchemist group, won as a JMM candidate under controversial circumstances before going over to the TMC in a matter of months.

The TMC appointed a state convenor in Dilip Chatterjee on February 18. "The Ranchi rally was not very important. What mattered was a February 8 rally in Dhanbad, which was well attended," said Chatterjee. He also handles the Ranchi district office; TMC now has functioning units in Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Bokaro districts. "We want to contest all 14 Lok Sabha seats and have finalised names for 5-6 of them. For the state assembly [elections, scheduled for 2015] too, we will have candidates for all seats," added Chatterjee.

Before TMC, Chatterjee was a general secretary of the JMM. "I left when JMM started losing its way. Shibu Soren was increasingly silenced inside the party," was all he was willing to say. A former central committee member of the JMM said that Chatterjee's presence could draw JMM members to the TMC.

The TMC then, could be the first beneficiary of an anti-Hemant Soren feeling that has been building up within the JMM. Older leaders have felt alienated since Hemant's rise began, surrounded by a coterie called the class of 2005 in these pages. These were people who associated themselves with the JMM the year Shibu Soren first became chief minister; the same year when Hemant first contested to the state assembly, and lost.

Apart from the big names, there are early indications that grassroots leaders could move to the JMM. Not merely Bengali-speaking individuals, but also adivasi leaders are moving toward to TMC. "Only this morning did I get a call from an important functionary in the Ramgarh district unit of the JMM, asking for a TMC leader's number," said an individual who handles media relations for a potential Lok Sabha candidate who belongs neither to the JMM nor TMC. Shibu Soren's elder brother Rajaram Soren too, has indicated that he would not mind a move to the TMC.

The JMM comes in the TMC's firing line as the former's stronghold, the Santhal Pargana region, is contiguous with West Bengal. It made its first prominent recruitment in the state there five years back, inducting anti-displacement activist and party's state women's unit convenor Muni Hansda from Dumka. She could be the TMC's candidate from the namesake constituency - currently held by Shibu Soren - but reportedly faces competition from Lalu Soren.

The TMC's strong bid could have an effect in Assam, where the party is trying to gain influence among the tea tribes - originally of Jharkhand, among whom the JMM has supporters.

This scattergun approach to collecting individuals has however resulted in an explosive mix: there is Muni Hansda, who has been a crusader against the mining companies in Dumka and Pakur; Lalu Soren, whose most important quality is that he is Shibu's brother; Bandhu Tirkey, a minister in the Madhu Koda cabinet who faces charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Chamra Linda, legally declared an absconder from 2008 to 2013 in an assault case. As if this was not enough, there are reports in the regional media that Geeta Koda, legislator and wife of the former CM, could join the TMC.

The TMC in Jharkhand is hardly an advertisement the party's brand ambassador Anna Hazare would want to be featured in. On the other hand, it is an indicator of the scale of Mamata Banerjee's ambitions.

Hemant Is A Big Boy Now

This piece does not explicitly refer to the Lok Sabha elections, but I believe the events described towards the end will have a bearing on the polls.

Ranchi, February 19

Hemant Soren might as well have stuck an aerial to his head: since the first day of his tenure, he has been taunted as being remote-controlled.

There was the father. Shibu Soren may be ageing, but is still easily the most popular leader in Jharkhand. He is doting enough to let his son play pull-down-governments but JMM’s leaders do not necessarily share the love and still prefer their Guruji with complaints and for counsel.

Then, there was the Congress. Union Minister Jairam Ramesh’s frequent visits to state have irked even his party’s leaders. At some point, Ramesh came to be called a second chief minister; someone who pulls strings from Delhi.

The inexperienced Hemant, on his first term as state legislator – he was a Rajya Sabha member for five-odd months before being elected – found a mentor in finance minister Rajendra Prasad. The Congress leader also handles parliamentary affairs and leads the counter-attacks the Opposition’s ire in the House. As an orator, Hemant is at best a strong room of stock phrases.

There has always been a ruthless streak about Hemant Soren: insisting that Mathura Prasad Mahato – a Shibu loyalist and old-timer who threatened to leave the party when the son went all-out to bring down Arjun Munda’s government – had to be kept out of his cabinet, for instance. The CM then inducted the timid Jai Prakash Bhai Patel, all of 31, to his council of ministers. Mahato had no defence; Patel was his son-in-law, after all.

Of late, that steel is more in evidence. When the RJD and the Congress came to an understanding on the Rajya Sabha polls on January 28, they went to Hemant to complain about the JMM naming a candidate. Savita Mahato, a Shibu Soren choice, was sent back to Jamshedpur after she made the trip to file nomination papers. Three Kurmi MLAs, led by Mathura Mahato, subsequently submitted their resignations to the senior Soren, but had to withdraw them after the party remained indifferent.

A week back, Congress minister Chandra Sekhar “Dadai” Dubey began verbally attacking the CM. The Congress did not discipline Dubey; Hemant looked weak and unable to respond. Dubey seemed to be on a mission to get himself ousted and succeeded with a truism: he said that Hemant was chief minister only because his father was Shibu Soren.

The nature of the ouster was interesting. Dubey had already been asked by his party to resign and he has claimed that he was going to do so. But Hemant, already been to Delhi to complain to Congress leaders, recommended at 10.30 in the morning on February 19 that Dubey be sacked. That meant the government went to the opening of its first Budget session that morning a foot soldier short.

He may be coming of age by cutting of heads instead of standing on the shoulders of giants, but Hemant Soren seems to be doing whatever it takes to survive in Jharkhand’s dog-eat-dog politics.