Ranchi, May 29 (IANS) Political activity has intensified in Jharkhand ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections for two seats scheduled to be held on June 18. Congress leaders held a nearly three-hour-long meeting with Chief Minister Hemant Soren at his residence here on Friday to deliberate on seat-sharing and candidate selection.

During the meeting, discussions centred on strategies to be adopted to ensure the victory of alliance nominees in both seats. However, no final consensus could be reached in the meeting on seat-sharing or candidate selection.

Those present in the meeting included Congress Jharkhand in-charge K. Raju, co-in-charge Dr Sirivella Prasad, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and Jharkhand Congress president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh.

Congress leaders reportedly conveyed to the Chief Minister that, in keeping with alliance norms, one Rajya Sabha seat should be allocated to the party. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has not yet clarified its stand on the issue, but several senior party leaders are saying that JMM should field candidates for both seats.

Meanwhile, internal deliberations over candidates are continuing in both parties. From the JMM side, the names of Kalpana Soren (wife of Chief Minister Hemant Soren), his sister Anjani Soren, former MLA Kunal Sarangi and former minister Mithilesh Thakur are being discussed.

In Congress, lobbying for candidature has picked up pace. According to sources, the party may finalise one name among former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, former state president Rajesh Thakur, current state president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh, former minister Banna Gupta, Furkan Ansari, Pradeep Balmuchu and Dhiraj Sahu.

Interestingly, former working president Shehzada Anwar, who was the Congress candidate in the 2020 Rajya Sabha elections and lost, has once again staked a claim by writing to party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Congress in-charge K. Raju said that the party will not field any outsider in this election. The candidate will be a local leader from Jharkhand with a strong grassroots presence and organisational backing.

The Election Commission of India on May 22 announced that the Rajya Sabha elections for 24 seats across 10 states will be held on June 18. The elections will be held for four seats each in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka; three seats each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan; two seats in Jharkhand and one seat each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

–IANS

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