CPI parts ways with INDIA bloc in Jharkhand, to go solo in LS polls
Ranchi, Mar 10: The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Sunday parted ways with the opposition bloc INDIA, announcing that it will contest in eight of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections.
The CPI has no representation in the Lower House of Parliament from Jharkhand.
"We have decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls on our own," CPI state secretary Mahendra Pathak told PTI.
"The BJP has announced its candidates, but the Congress and the 'Mahagathbandhan' have not yet held any talks on seat-sharing. So, we have decided to go solo," he said.
The decision was taken at the party's state executive committee meeting here, he said.
The CPI will field its candidates in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Koderma, Chatra, Palamu, Giridih, Dumka and Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituencies.
Names of the candidates will be announced after March 16, Pathak said.
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which leads the ruling coalition in Jharkhand, said such a decision by the CPI state unit raises questions over discipline within the party.
"It is beyond my understanding... if the state unit can take such decisions. Discussions on seat-sharing are already underway at the national level," JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey said.
Of the 14 seats in the state, the BJP has 11, AJSU party one, JMM one and the Congress has one.
However, the Congress' lone MP Geeta Kora recently shifted to the BJP.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Body of Bihar Police personnel found hanging in barracks in Patna
Patna (PTI): The body of a Bihar Police personnel was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in his barracks here, a senior officer said on Sunday.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikeya Sharma said a havildar with Bihar State Armed Police-1, popularly known as "Gorkha battalion", died allegedly by suicide as he had been suffering from some ailment.
The deceased left behind "two suicide notes", one in Hindi and the other in his native language Nepali.
"From the suicide notes, it appears that Navraj Sunar, the deceased havildar, had been suffering from some ailment which had caused him much mental anguish and may have driven him to take the extreme step," the SSP said.
The body was being sent to the native village of the deceased in Nepal after a post-mortem examination, while further investigations were on, with forensic experts inspecting the site of the incident.
