RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, June 18: It is said that there is neither a permanent friend nor a permanent enemy in politics. This reflects in the programme of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi, who will address a public meeting at Chanho Maidan under the Mandar assembly constituency of Jharkhand where the by-poll election is scheduled for June 23.
Notably, Owaisi will support suspended BJP leader Dev Kumar Dhan, who is contesting the election as an independent candidate from the constituency. Apart from him, two other prominent candidates are BJP’s Gangotri Kujur and Shilpi Neha Tirkey from Congress.
Owaisi’s support for Dhan is going to make the election interesting as there is a maximum possibility of the Muslim population supporting Dhan. If this happens, it will be a loss for Shilpi, daughter of Bandhu Tirkey, who lost his status as a legislator after being convicted in a case for possessing disproportionate assets.
Earlier, it was expected that the district administration will not allow Owaisi to visit the location as the city is already in a tense mood due to the controversy over suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammed. However, the district administration allowed him.
In the 2019 main assembly election, Bandhu Tirkey of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) won the seat by defeating Deo Kumar Dhan of Bharatiya Janata Party with a margin of 23,127 votes.
Tirkey had got 92,491 votes while Dhan could only manage 69,364 votes. In that election, Shishir Lakra of AIMIM got 23,592 votes and stood third followed by Hemlata Oraon of AJSU (P) who got 15,708 votes and Sunny Toppo of Indian National Congress got 8,840 votes.
Kujur had won the 2014 election. She had got 54,200 votes while the runner up Bandhu Tirkey had got 46,595 votes. Dhan, who had contested as an independent candidate at that time had got 38,801 and emerged third
