LWE outfit with a stake in politics

A source who lives in an adjacent village, and who invited this newspaper to Hempur, said a TSPC armed squad of about 50 had arrived at the village at 8 am on Sunday. “Sunilji was leading it. They went around telling people to vote for Prakash Ram,” the source said. Sunil is a TSPC area commander. Hailing from a nearby village, he has built the largest house in Hempur, a yellow mansion.

Prakash Ram is a former RJD MLA, now contesting on a ticket from Babulal Marandi’s JVM-P. Latehar is an SC constituency; Hempur has a majority of Ganjhus, who are Dalits. TSPC is led by Ganjhu leaders and Sunil too belongs to the caste. Ganesh Ganjhu, elder brother of TSPC chief Brajesh Ganjhu, recently joined the JVM-P and is the party’s candidate from Simaria, in Chatra district.

Hempur is important also because of its proximity to Makaiyatand — it was where the BJP’s Latehar candidate Brajmohan Ram had an accident on November 14. Speaking at Chandwa in the constituency on November 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that his opponents had tried to kill Ram. Ram had been awarded the ticket only on the last day of filing nominations. This was because the BJP cancelled the ticket awarded to Narayan Bhokta, who turned out to be a deputy zonal commander of TSPC.