In a political move which might force BJP to redraw its strategy for poll-bound Jharkhand, Independent MLA Saryu Roy has announced a proposal of contesting Assembly polls in the state with the JDU.

The former BJP leader and Jamshedpur East MLA Saryu Roy who shares a “cordial relation” with Bihar chief minister and JDU national president Nitish Kumar had announced on social media that he had met Nitish ji in Patna on Saturday and held discussions on fighting Jharkhand Assembly elections alongside the JDU.

“I have a very cordial relationship with Nitish ji since college days (in Patna) and had met him at his official residence in Patna on Saturday. We had a discussion on the upcoming Assembly polls in Jharkhand and Nitish ji proposed that our party (Bharatiya Jan Morcha), which is yet to be recognized, merge with JDU and fight the polls together. I agreed to the proposal. Now it is up to the JDU executive committee to take the final decision,” said Roy, who earned the sobriquet of ‘giantkiller’ after 2019 Assembly polls when he defeated five-term BJP MLA and former chief minister Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur East.

Significantly, Roy, 72, had served as MLC in Bihar for a six-year term between 1998 to 2004 and had represented Jamshedpur West MLA twice. He left the BJP after being denied a ticket and contested as an Independent against Raghubar Das (currently Odisha governor) and defeated the BJP leader by over 15,000 votes in his home constituency and claimed to have the support of Nitish Kumar during the Assembly polls in 2019.

Later in January 2020, he formed his own political party Bharatiya Jan Morcha (BJM) which is yet to get recognition from the Election Commission of India. Roy had been accusing Das of corruption during his tenure as Jharkhand chief minister (2014-2019) and has recently lodged a police FIR in Ranchi on alleged corruption to a Singapore-based consultant Meinhardt Group while Das was the urban development minister.

Ranchi-based political columnist Sudhir Pal claimed that it would force the BJP to redraw its strategy for Jharkhand elections.

“In 2019 Assembly polls JDU and Ajsu (both NDA allies) had not entered into an alliance with the BJP. However, this time the scenario is entirely different with JDU support crucial for the BJP at the Centre and the BJP might have to accommodate seats for the JDU along with the Ajsu. In such a situation, the BJP will have to sacrifice at least one seat — Jamshedpur East — as Roy is the sitting MLA, which had been the traditional seat of BJP represented by Das,” said Pal.

JDU Jharkhand spokesperson Sagar Kumar said that they are yet to hear anything from party senior leadership from Patna in this connection.

“Saryu Roy ji is a respected senior leader and has announced it on his social media handle about the meetingwith Nitish Kumar ji. However, we are yet to hear of an alliance or their party merger with JDU from our leaders. We cannot comment on it unless there is a communication from our party,” said Kumar.