JVM-P MLA Pradeep against move to merge party with BJP

(By: Sourav Mukherjee)
RANCHI: JVM-P chief Babulal Marandi will find it difficult to merge his party with BJP as one of the party’s three MLAs said on Saturday that he will never join the saffron brigade.
Yadav’s statement came in response to a report that Babulal, who is an MLA from Dhanwar, is in talks with top national leaders of BJP and likely to join or merge his party with the saffron party after January 14.The Poreyahat MLA further said he had no knowledge of Babulal’s reported plans to join BJP. Babulal cannot be contacted as he is currently on an overseas trip.
Speaking to TOI, Yadav said, “I have not been officially intimated about any move to merge the party with BJP. But personally speaking, I am not in favour of any such move and this goes against the party’s constitution and the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with disqualification of MLAs on grounds of defection.”
He added, “In an eventuality that such a merger move arise, it will have to be ratified by twothird majority of the elected representatives of the the party — which means at least two of our three elected representatives should agree to join BJP. I am quite positive that I will not join BJP under any circumstances. If the move of the party being merged with BJP or our party’s leader joining BJP does occur, then I shall weigh my options and take a suitable decision at that juncture.”
The Poryehat MLA’s distaste for BJP might have stemmed from the fact that he had been arrested by the previous Raghubar Das government for allegedly instigating people to attack police at a demonstration against land acquisition in Godda for the Adani power plant. Yadav, who was accused by the Godda district administration in five separate cases in this regard, had been jailed for several months in 2017.
JVM-P’s third MLA from Mandar, Bandhu Tirkey, was not available for comments on the issue.
The party’s spokesperson, Tuhid Alam, reiterated, “There is no such official move by our party leader to join BJP or merged with BJP. We stand by Babulal ji who has already supported the Mahagathbandhan government. These talks about merger are mere rumours.”
In 2015, when six of the eight MLAs of JVM-P defected to BJP a month after the December 2014 assembly election, Babulal had not made any move to merge his party with BJP but had fought a gritty five-year legal battle against the defection. Babulal lost the case in 2019 after the speaker ruled in favour of the six MLAs. Babulal, who was associated with the RSS, had parted ways with BJP in 2006 to form JVM-P. In the 2019 assembly election, Babulal and BJP have put forth their worst performances – Babulal’s tally of eight MLAs in 2014 election came down to three, while BJP’s tally of 37 MLAs dipped to 25. Now that both Babulal and BJP are passing through a lean phase, political experts question the logic behind any such move. However, BJP insiders said Babulal’s return to the saffron brigade fold would give the party its tribal and an untainted face in the assembly.
Despite Babulal extending unconditional support to the Mahagathbandhan government, reports of him shifting allegiance to BJP started doing the rounds in political circles and local media picked it up since December 22, 2019, when the assembly results were declared. Senior members of state BJP also have been fanning the rumour with one of them saying on Saturday, “Talks between Babulal and top BJP officials have been held and a formal announcement will soon be made in this regard. Now, legal aspects and norms are being looked into for the merger of JVM-P with BJP.” However, the official stand of BJP is still non-committal on the issue, yet the general secretary of the state BJP, Deepak Prakash, said, “We will welcome all those people who have faith in our party’s policies, ideology and leadership.”