Ranchi, Nov. 2: Former members of parliament who lost their seats during the Lok Sabha polls in March this year, are now eyeing Assembly seats to regain their lost political ground.
The list includes former JMM MPs Teklal Mahto and Hemlal Murmu and former Congress MPs Rameshwar Oraon, Furkan Ansari, Chandrasekhar Dubey alias Dadai Dubey and Bagun Sumbrui and former CPI MP Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Mehta. All of them lost in the Lok Sabha polls this year.
JMM has already fielded former Rajmahal MP Hemlal Murmu from Barhet (ST) Assembly segment in Sahebganj district of Santhal Pargana, denying a ticket to sitting MLA Thomas Hansda.
Congress has proposed the name of Chandrasekhar Dubey from Dhanbad Assembly seat. In the Lok Sabha polls, Dubey lost by a slender margin to BJP nominee P.N. Singh.
Former policeman and Lohardaga MP Rameshwar Oraon is also eyeing a Congress ticket to contest the Assembly polls. But he does not want to contest from his old political bastion spread over Gumla and Lohardaga.
“One cannot afford to sit idle in politics. I am also planning to contest the Assembly polls that would give me an opportunity to serve the state in a better way, compared to when I was an MP,” he said.
“But a final nod is yet to come from the party high command. I will certainly not contest from Gumla-Lohardaga region, but from a new constituency,” Oraon told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi, where a central committee of Congress will announce names of 30 candidates for seats going to polls in first phase of polls.
Former Congress MP from Godda Furkan Ansari is eyeing Jamtara Assembly segment where JMM has already fielded Bishnu Prasad Bhaiya.
Former Congress MP from Singhbhum Bagun Sumbrui is also camping in New Delhi to ensure a ticket for himself. The octogenarian five-time MP has been facing flak after his big defeat at the hands of Independent MP Madhu Koda, against whom graft charges are now been probed by various agencies.
“Baba is in Delhi right now. He is sure to get a ticket to contest from Chaibasa,” said a close confidant of Sumbrui at Chaibasa.
The state Congress leadership was earlier considering the names of West Singhbhum district youth Congress president Ranjan Boipai and women wing chairperson Shushila Purty.
But party sources said Boipai’s name does not figure in the names of probables any more. The name of former JMM MP from Giridih Teklal Mahto has already been finalised for Mandu Assembly seat, conceded party sources requesting anonymity.
Mandu in Hazaribagh, a Kurmi-dominated area, is an old political bastion of Mahto who had represented the seat for a record five times.
Former JMM MP from Jamshedpur Suman Mahto has expressed her unwillingness to contest Assembly elections, party sources added.
