Babulal Marandi may be back in BJP fold

NEW DELHI: After the Assembly election, a political realignment is taking shape in Jharkhand – former chief minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha leader Babulal Marandi may join BJP. People aware of the matter told ET that a discussion has been initiated for the likely merger of JVM into BJP.
JVM has three MLAs and after the election it extended support to JMM-led government in the state.

The first sign of coming together came on Sunday when BJP didn’t select a leader of Opposition and delayed it till the auspicious date – January 14.

On Saturday, Marandi dissolved the executive committee of JVM and put on hold the formation of new team till January 14.

Till now, Marandi has been denying but members of both BJP and JVM confirmed that an option is being explored. “It is too early to say but there is some movement in that direction,” said a Jharkhand BJP leader.

Marandi is a former RSS leader who resigned from his job as a teacher to work for the organisation.

In 2000, he became the first chief minister of newly created state of Jharkhand. But he had to resign in 2003 and Arjun Munda became the chief minister. In 2006, Marandi launched his own party and since then he has been trying to find a base in the state. In 2009, his party won eleven Assembly seats which were reduced to eight in 2014. In 2019, his party managed to win only three seats.

Since the Assembly election debacle, BJP has been looking for a tribal face in Jharkhand with an appeal in Santhal region. BJP’s other tribal face, Arjun Munda, has his influence in Kolhan region where the party has not been able to perform well in the current assembly election.

With Bihar and West Bengal elections coming later in the year and after, Marandi could be the BJP tribal face to woo tribal voters in Jharkhand’s adjoining seats of Bihar and West Bengal.

Marandi, on the other hand, is also looking for a rehabilitation within the party at his age (62 years) and it looks like a win-win situation for both.

He could either become the leader of Opposition in Jharkhand after joining BJP or join the Modi cabinet. He is currently an MLA from Dhanwar.

However the little trouble for Marandi is two other JVM MLAs, who may choose not to go with him.