BJP rebels pave Cong way

PRIZE FIGHTS/ HATIA & KHIJRI

In the Khijri and Hatia segments of the Ranchi constituency, the Congress is slated to win as heavy-weight rebel BJP candidates are in the fray.

Hatia is a walk-over for the Congress, political observers predict. Failing to get a BJP ticket, three-time MLA Ramji Lal Sarda has chosen to contest as an independent, taking most of the party workers with him.

"About 3,000 of the party's 4,000 workers are behind Sardaji," said a worker. The BJP ticket gone to newcomer KK Poddar and the Congress candidate, Ram Gopal Saran Shadev, seems to have it easy.

But there is dissent in the Congress camp too. A descendant of the region's royal family, Shadev has been chosen over veterans PN Singh and Pratibha Singh, creating factions within the Congress.

Hatia, which has the dubious honour of having the most number (43) of contestants in the fray, has an unlikely contender for the winner's place. The Shiv Sena candidate, Naval Kishore Singh, believes that the split BJP vote will go in his favour.

"The people are angry with the BJP administration and its infighting," he says. Singh was hopeful that Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam's presence in the last two days of campaigning would help tilt the balance.

In Khijri, the BJP's former Union coal minister, Kharaia Munda, is pitted against sitting Congress candidate Sawna Lakra. The BJP's rebel candidate and two-time MLA, Dhuti Pahan, might not be as effective in spliting the vote as Sarda in Hatia, but he is likely to eat into the Sadaan (non-tribal, non-Muslim) votes that constitute the largest chunk in the three-lakh constituency.

The Congress has the support of the Christian and Muslim voters which number about 40,000. The deciding factor, according to Lakra, will be the Congress President Sonia Gandhi's rally. Atal Bihari Vajpayee too campaigned here February12. It looks like it is Vajpayee against Sonia again in Khijri.