In a seat-sharing spelt out for Jharkhand Assembly polls, the Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular, or HAM-S, seemed cheated at its last breath. Union minister of micro, small, and medium enterprises Jitan Ram Manjhi was disillusioned on Friday when his party did not get a single seat as part of the NDA's seat-sharing arrangement.
The BJP has refused to part ways with the BJP despite a high demand for a share of assembly seats.
NDA seat-sharing formula was unveiled by Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP incharge for Jharkhand and Chief Minister of Assam, in Ranchi.
In the said deal, the BJHP will contest 68 seats and All Jharkhand Students Union, or AJSU, will contest 10 seats. JD-U has been given 2 seats, and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party Ram Vilas, or LJPRV, will contest just one seat.
When asked if HAM-S was left out of seat sharing, he said, "My party had initially sought 10 seats, reduced to five and later three as a compromise, but nothing came through."
But Manjhi, however, reaffirmed his commitment to the NDA, "I am a true soldier of the NDA, and I will remain part of it.".
He said his party had contributed one seat in the Lok Sabha elections to the NDA, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi rewarded him with a cabinet position.
"So, it happens in seat sharing," Manjhi said.
The seat-sharing formula also dealt a blow to another NDA partner, the JD-U.
State JD-U president and Rajya Sabha MP Khiru Mahto had said his party would contest 11 seats in Jharkhand and was in talks with BJP leaders.
But all said and done, the BJP finally allotted as many as only 2 seats to the JD-U. A party source has expressed disappointment at the allotment.
The LJPRV led by Chirag Paswan was given 1 seat in the alliance, and the BJP was very keen to take the opportunity of the immense popularity Paswan enjoys among the Dalits in Jharkhand.
Chirag Paswan had done marvelously in Bihar Lok Sabha elections by winning all the five seats in which his party had contested. The BJP now intends to make Paswan a star campaigner for the upcoming Jharkhand elections, hoping to see the same feel good factor among the Dalit voters.
The two-phase poll in Jharkhand would be conducted on 13 and 20 of November while the results would be declared on 23 of November.
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