'Ex-Maoist' leader vs former police chief in Palamau

This reserved Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls tomorrow with sitting MP Kameshwar Baitha, who has several Naxal-related and other cases slapped against him, facing challenge from former Jharkhand police chief V D Ram, among 11 others.
JMM and Congress are supporting alliance partner RJD according to a pre-poll alliance in the state.
The Palamau seat, reserved for SCs from 1962, has seen Congress winning six times (1952, 57, 62, 67, 71 and 84), BJP four times (1991, 96, 98, 99), RJD twice (2004, 2007) and Janata Party (1977), Janata Dal (1989) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (2009) once each.

While Baitha, who is facing cases related to alleged Maoist activities, is fighting on a Trinamool Congress ticket this time after switching from JMM, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha has fielded Ghuran Ram. He had won the seat on RJD ticket in the 2007 LS bypoll.
RJD candidate Manoj Kumar, who was disqualified from Parliament in 2007 following a TV sting over an alleged bribery scandal, is also in the fray.
"My party has fielded me to face the janata adalat (people's court). They know I was a victim of conspiracy hatched by my opponents...," asserted Kumar, who won the seat in 2004.

BJP candidate Ram has also raised the issues of 'bijli-sadak-pani' and questioned the UPA government for the state of affairs here.

"The people are facing hardships following lack of irrigation, electricity, proper roads, health, education, and other basic amenities. What has the UPA government at the Centre done for the region during the past ten years," he asked.
MLAs representing the six segments of Palamau LS seat have also raised the same issues in the state assembly ever since Jharkhand's creation.
Congress has blamed BJP, which has ruled the state for maximum period since its creation on November 15, 2000, for the poor infrastructure.

"The BJP should reply why Palamau has been left undeveloped as they ruled the maximum time. Not only Palamau but other areas like Chatra, Koderma and Giridih," PCC General Secretary Alok Dubey asked.
"Political instability and bureaucratic laxity have also contributed to the underdevelopment," he claimed.