Vinay Kumar
Ranchi: JMM, which is foraying into northeast in the Assam assembly polls as part of its expansion plans, will intensify its campaigning in that state from Saturday. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, his wife and Gandey MLA Kalpana are among the star campaigners of JMM.The party, which is running an alliance govt in Jharkhand along with Congress and RJD, had named candidates for 21 out of 126 constituencies in Assam. However, the party will be able to fight only on 18 seats as the nomination of three candidates were rejected during the scrutiny process.Ahead of the April 9 polls, several JMM members, including MLAs, MPs and ministers from Jharkhand, have started reaching Assam.On Friday, transport minister and Chaibasa MLA Deepak Birua reached Dibrugarh while his counterpart, Chamra Linda, who is the Bishunpur legislator, is already camping with party workers for over a week. On Thursday night, Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji reached Dibrugarh.Maji told TOI over phone, “Party workers are gradually reaching Assam based on various mandates provided to them by the leadership, but we will formally intensify our campaigning from Friday.”Party sources said that CM Hemant and his wife, Kalpana, are slated to hold multiple rallies near Guwahati on Saturday. The party, however, hasn’t officially announced their schedule. “Yes, the CM will begin campaigning from Friday and will hold multiple rallies, but the party will officially notify the schedule soon,” said a source.The party’s focus in on seats in upper Assam region, home to tea estates where scores of tribals reside and work. Before the formal announcement of polls, Hemant had addressed two rallies in Assam, indicating the JMM’s intention to contest seats in that state. Changing its stance after the failure of seat-sharing talks with its ally Congress, JMM even went ahead and declared candidates for 21 seats.“It’s unfortunate but all JMM nominations were filed on the last day due to delay in seat-sharing talks. As a result, three candidates made some mistakes in their nomination forms leading to their rejection during the scrutiny,” said a source.
