Mahua Majhi is JMM Candidate for Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand

On Monday, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha announced Mahua Majhi as its candidate for the 2018 Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is also the executive president of JMM, announced Maji’s name.

Soren told a press conference at his official residence that he chose Maji’s name after consulting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and his father, JMM supremo Shibu Soren.

The Congress, on the other hand, called it “a contradiction between what was discussed in Delhi and the JMM’s decision today.”

The Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal are the other two parties in Jharkhand’s ruling coalition.

Maji was previously the chairperson of the State Commission for Women in Jharkhand.

She has also served as president of the JMM women’s wing.

In the past, the JMM leader ran unsuccessfully for the Ranchi assembly seat.

“The party high command has been informed about the developments related to Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand,” Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur told reporters. On Tuesday, the state in-charge will travel to Jharkhand. We’ll talk to him about the party’s future strategy.”

“We can comment on this after conversation with senior leaders of the party,” Thakur replied when asked if the Congress would field a candidate.

“There is a contradiction between what was discussed in Delhi and the decision that was taken by the JMM today,” the Congress leader said, adding that the JMM may have made the decision after considering several factors.

On Sunday, Soren announced that the state’s ruling coalition would run a joint candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat. However, the CM did not say whether the candidate will be from his party or from the Congress.

On Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party announced Aditya Sahu as their election candidate.

On June 10, elections will be held in 15 states to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats.

In the 81-member state assembly, the JMM has 30 legislators, while the Congress has 17. The BJP, the largest opposition party, has 26 MLAs.