BJP dark horse in battle of stalwarts

DUMKA: Sunil Soren, Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for Dumka seat, beat his two former "gurus" in the show of strength on Tuesday.
Bharatiya Janata Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha organized motorcycle rallies simultaneously in the town on Tuesday, the last day of campaigning and the one organized by BJP was the biggest.
Sunil, a former JMM man and close aide of Shibu Soren's eldest son, late Durga Soren, left the party after he was insulted by Durga in 2004.He then joined hands with Babulal Marandi (then in BJP) and defeated Durga in the 2005 assembly polls and became the Jama MLA.
In the 2009 Dumka Lok Sabha election, Shibu defeated Sunil by a margin of around 20,000 votes. Now, the BJP man is busy in bridging that 20,000-vote gap to be the winner.
Pitched against two former chief ministers, Sunil is riding on Modi wave to upset poll equations.
"Sunil will walk away with votes in urban areas. As the JMM chief is not so active this time because of his age and Babulal Marandi is facing the ire of non-tribals because of the domicile policy, Sunil will get good support in rural areas. He is clear winner this time," BJP worker Birendra Singh said.
Six assembly seats - Dumka, Jama, Shikari Para, Sarath, Jamtara and Nala - fall under Dumka parliamentary constituency. Five assembly seats are represented by JMM, while BJP represents only Nala in the assembly.
But Singh said the voting pattern in the assembly and the parliamentary constituencies are different.
"In assembly polls, people prefer nominees who will help them solve local problems. In parliamentary elections, people prefer candidates from national parties like the BJP, not regional parties like JMM and JVP," he said.
Rajkumar Verma, a local, said: "This time the Modi wave is so strong that it will blow away both Shibu and Babulal."
However, chief minister Hemant Soren said: "There is no Modi wave. One must get support from all sections of the society to become PM. This is lacking in the case of Narendra Modi."
Dumka is the only Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand where JMM, JVM(P) and BJP candidates are in the poll fray.
Sunil's low profile may also give him high returns.
"Shibu and Babulal, both, have been dogged by controversies. Sunil's image is clean and it will give him advantage," a local lawyer said.
BJP sources, however, said Sunil will face problems because of the infighting in the local unit. "Some BJP workers wanted party ticket for Louis Marandi. They are not fully supporting Sunil," they said.
Some party workers believe BJP would have gained Christian votes if the ticket went to Louis, a tribal Christian. Others say she was denied ticket because she is a Christian.
But Godda MP and senior BJP leader Nishikant Dubey refuted the charges. "Sunil was the right choice because he lost by only 20,000 votes in last polls," he said.
Shibu has represented Dumka Lok Sabha seat seven times and Babulal twice, but the dark horse may gallop past them in the poll race for the most prestigious seat in Jharkhand to open his account.