RANCHI: The Opposition parties in Jharkhand have failed to reach on consensus for fielding a common candidate for the bypolls to be held for Kolebira Assembly seat on December 20.
Despite by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chief Shibu Soren's call to support Jharkhand Party candidate Menon Ekka, Congress candidate Bixel Kongadi filed his nomination on the last day of nomination on Monday.
Kolebira seat had fallen vacant after former minister in Madhu Koda government and the sitting MLA of Kolebira - Anosh Ekka, was convicted and sentenced life imprisonment by a Simdega Court on July 3 in a case related to the murder of a para-teacher in 2014.
Though the JMM has assured that Kolebira will not have any impact on the grand alliance, but at the same time expressed dissatisfaction over last minute decision taken by the Congress party to filed its candidate despite making it clear by the Party Chief that they were supporting Menon Ekka from there.
"If the Opposition leaders have chosen JMM Executive President and leader of Opposition Hemant Soren, they must honour his decision. All the parties must have gone his decision to support Jharkhand Party candidate Menon Ekka, without raising any question," said JMM General Secretary and Spokesperson Vinod Panday.
There should not have any confusion as the Jharkhand Party has already cleared its intentions to join the grand alliance, he added. "Moreover, Kolebira being natural claim of JMM, if looked in terms of mass base, the decision was to be taken by us whether to filed our own candidate or support someone else," said Pandey.
And if the Party had supported Jharkhand Party, all the opposition parties must have supported her, he added. Congress, on the other hand, claimed that since none of the parties in the grand alliance gave their candidate, it was the duty of the Congress party to field its candidate from Kolebira.
"We have acted on the demand of the masses in Kolebira which is completely against the outrage of Enosh Ekka's Jharkhand Party. Moreover, it was JMM's personal decision to support Jharkhand Party, without taking any consent from any other party in the grand alliance," said Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee Spokesperson Lal Kishore Nath Shahdeo.
The Congress Party has been working on it strategically and senior party leaders have been camping in Kolebira regularly to win the seat, he added. Surprisingly, Shahdeo also claimed that it will not have any impact on the grand alliance, as Hemant Soren has given his consent to participate in a meeting organized by UPA taking place at New Delhi on December 10.
There might be some compulsion behind JMM extending its support to Jharkhand Party, he added. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) is in a fix, whether to support Congress candidate or JMM supported Jharkhand Party. Party leaders, however, avoided speaking on the issue. "We are still to take any decision on Kolebira as the Party Chief Babulal Marandi is out of station and we will wait till he comes back and give any direction on it," said a senior JVM leader requesting anonymity.
Probably we will play a neutral role in Kolebira bi-elections for the sake of grand alliance, he added. BJP has fielded 28-year-old Basant Soreng from Kolebira. EoM