Interview: Congress will win 8-10 seats in Jharkhand, says party’s state in-charge

A day before the votes of Lok Sabha elections are counted on Tuesday, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Congress in-charge of Jharkhand, claimed the INDIA alliance would win at least eight seats in the state. In an interview with Vishal Kant, he spoke on a host of issues including equations with allies, the party’s action against jailed minister Alamgir Alam and possibility of any overhaul in the state unit. Edited excerpts:

# Votes are to be counted on Tuesday, what is your assessment about INDIA bloc’s prospects in Jharkhand?

Going by the feedback from the ground and from the alliance partners, we are in fight in all 14 Lok Sabha seats.

# But you must have done some realistic assessment?

Ans: We are set to win at least 8-plus seats in the state. We will surely win 8 to 10 seats.

# What are the issues you think that people have voted for you?

Ans: There are a host of regional and national issues. Local issues like Sarna code, arrest of (former chief minister) Hemant Soren, biased approach of the Centre against Jharkhand while disbursing funds have found resonance with people, who have seen how even PM Awas funds were not given that forced the state to launch its own housing scheme.

Since this was a national scheme, we have received support from people for the guarantees promised by us such as those for women and youth. Additionally, the way Congress came out strongly pledging to protect the Constitution also helped us.

# While you are hopeful of doing well in the state, we saw lot of controversy within the party and among the alliance related to seat sharing and even during the campaign.

Ans: Barring a few incidents, I can confidently say that both the Congress cadre and the alliance partners have worked in unison. In seat sharing, Left got one seat, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) got five seats, one more than last time. This time, Singhbhum went to JMM and that was on merit and not under any pressure. Our sitting Singhbhum MP left the party. There were five JMM MLAs in that constituency. They had that natural claim. There was some confusion with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which was claiming two seats, Palamu and Chatra, but ultimately that was sorted. Once the candidates were announced, we ran a united and spirited campaign.

# But Congress also had to change candidate in Godda?

Ans: Yes, that was done due to some feedback. But once Deepika Pandey Singh was replaced with Pradeep Yadav, even Deepika gave her best. She campaigned all along for the candidate, in fact, better than what she would have done, had she been in the fray. Some issues arose in Chatra as well, but everything was sorted.

# One issue which BJP got to corner the alliance and Congress was arrest of minister Alamgir Alam by ED? Has the party decided whether he would continue or resign?

Ans: A decision will be taken on it after the Lok Sabha election process is over. We will have a discussion with alliance leaders. However, we also need to see how his arrest was made. Why was he served notice once model code had set in. He responded to the notice. On the first day, they (ED) told him that he would be given time as the electioneering had started. But wonder what conspired later in the night and he was arrested the next day. Maybe they were pressurised from above. So, we also gave ourselves time to assess the situation. We will take a measured decision after the Lok Sabha election process is over.

# Now that the LS election process is over, will we see some changes in the state unit of the party, especially in view of the assembly elections?

Ans: I can say for sure that we have a very structured state unit from block to the state level and that helped us in the campaign. In fact, that is lacking in some other state units. However, we will assess the performance of the Lok Sabha elections assembly wise. The alliance has 48 MLAs in the House of 81. Additionally, we will also assess other assembly segments where we have string presence. That will have a bearing on our decisions related to assembly.

# Will we see change in organisation including state Congress chief?

Ans: We will make changes wherever required. Lot of other things also need to be factored in for such decisions including social demography. We have been votary of ‘jiski jitni sankhya, uski utni hissedaari’ (proportional representation).