Three-time Mandu MLA abandons BJP to join the Cong in Delhi
Ranchi: In a ceremonial ceremony held in Delhi on Wednesday, Congress surprised the BJP by appointing Mandu MLA Jai Prakash Bhai Patel as the saffron party’s deputy whip in the state assembly. Patel, 42, is a three-time member of the Legislative Assembly.
He is the son of Tek Lal Mahto, a former legislator who founded the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and was a significant figure in the statehood struggle together with Vinod Bihar Mahto and Shibu Soren.
With Patel joining the Congress, the INDIA bloc is expected to gain ground in the North Chotanagpur area, particularly in the Hazaribag parliamentary constituency, where the “grand-old party” lacked any genuine opponents to the BJP.
Though Patel said he joined the Congress without expecting an election ticket, Congress officials predicted he would be pitted against Manish Jaiswal of the BJP in Hazaribag.
The parliamentary seat of Hazaribag includes the Mandu assembly constituency. Patel has a lot of influence on voters because of his father’s heritage, particularly with Kurmis. In a phone conversation with TOI, Patel said that he quit the BJP because he no longer felt “welcome.” Notably, he dumped JMM to join the BJP in the lead-up to the 2019 assembly elections, and while riding a BJP ticket, he won the Mandu seat for a third time. “It was all because of me that the BJP secured the Mandu seat for the first time in its history. I was a two-time MLA and had a significant position in JMM even before I joined the BJP,” he said over the phone.
