Opposition parties in Jharkhand have missed an opportunity to present a united face in Jamshedpur East from where BJP rebel Saryu Roy is contesting against chief minister Raghubar Das, feels former Union minister Yashwant Sinha.

Sinha, who was minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet and whose son Jayant is the BJP MP from Hazaribagh, is known for speaking up against the current the BJP leadership and had quit the party in 2018 even though his son was a minister in the Modi government then.

“The Opposition in Jharkhand has missed a historic opportunity by not coming together to back Saryu Roy.... The move would have sent a very strong message as far as the Opposition’s fight to defeat the ruling party is concerned,” Sinha told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Heaping praise on Roy for his “bold step”, Sinha urged the Congress and the JVM to withdraw their candidates so that anti-BJP voters could consolidate behind one candidate. “All is not lost as yet and I just hope that good sense would prevail in the Congress and JVM to ensure defeat of the CM,” he said.

The Congress and the JVM, however, don’t appear to be in any mood to listen to the advice. JVM chief Babulal Marandi has justified his party’s decision to field Abhay Singh from Jamshedpur East.

Marandi had claimed that Roy had no base in the constituency while the JVM had been active there for years.

Congress candidate from Jamshedour East, Gourav Vallabh, questioned Roy.

“He remained minister in Das’s government for five years and didn’t bother to quit even when hunger deaths took place in the state. Also, he has still not resigned from the BJP and even the party has not removed him so far. That is why I say that my fight is against BJP-A (read Das) and BJP-B (read Roy),” Vallabh told The Telegraph.

Roy denied the charge levelled by the Congress leader and said that it was on his initiative that a protocol for starvation death was made in Jharkhand, the first state to do so in the country.

“Also, while heading the department of food and civil supplies, I launched several schemes to ensure proper supply of food grains to the people,” Roy said.

“As far as resigning from BJP is concerned, people should know that according to the BJP constitution anyone from the party contesting against the official candidate automatically gets suspended from the party for a period of six years. Those questioning me on this issue should first check the facts.”

The JMM is still sticking to its stand of giving moral support to Roy in the fight.

“We have extended moral support to Saryu Roy and we stick to our stand,” JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said.

Vallabh, however, claimed that local JMM leaders were working with him and some of them were also managing his election offices.

Roy, on the other hand, claimed that both JMM and Ajsu Party workers were supporting his candidature and that the JDU, AAP and RJD had extended support to him as well.