RANCHI: Amid the ongoing preparations for the upcoming Assembly polls, Jharkhand may see another tribal woman in active politics. Former Union Minister Ajun Munda is reluctant to contest Assembly polls this time and wants his wife Meera Munda to replace him on his traditional seat, Kharsawan, where she has been quite active politically from quite some time.
According to the people close to Arjun Munda, he has conveyed his feelings to the party leadership giving his wife’s name as an alternative.
“Instead of fielding him in these Assembly polls, Arjun Munda Ji wants the party to give a chance to his wife Meera Munda and he wants to stay away from Assembly elections and bat for his wife, said one of his close aide requesting anonymity. The final decision, however, has to be taken by the party leadership, he added.
He further added that Meera Munda may also be fielded from the Khijri Assembly seat in Ranchi, instead of her traditional seat Kharsawan, a BJP stronghold from where the party has registered its victory several times. However, in the 2019 Assembly polls, Congress managed to win the seat.
Notably, the BJP is looking for a popular tribal woman leader to counter CM Hemant Soren’s wife and Gandey MLA Kalpana Soren, who gained popularity among the tribal community in a very short time. It is also being said that Kalpana Soren has currently taken the command in making all crucial decisions in JMM.
Kalpana Soren is quite outspoken and has been attacking the BJP regularly posing a big challenge for the party. In such circumstances, Meera Munda may prove to be quite helpful in countering Kalpana Soren.
Though, there are many tribal women in Jharkhand BJP having their own identity and name, but they lack face value. Asha Lakra was definitely doing well, but she is currently not in active politics after becoming a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Though Meera Munda has no identity of her own, being the wife of the former Chief Minister, she is known to everyone as she was seen attending public programmes along with Arjun Munda at several occasions, when he was the Chief Minister of Jharkhand.
Arjun Munda, who had won the Kharsawan seat four times earlier, lost to JMM's Dashrath Gagrai in the 2014 Assembly polls. He was then fielded from Khunti in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and was declared winner, but lost the seat in 2024 to Congress’ Kali Charan Munda.