As Jharkhand voted in the first phase of the Assembly elections Wednesday, and the parties shifted their focus on the campaign for the next phase scheduled on November 20, the state’s political conversations were not dominated by any local issue. Instead, it remained centred on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren.

While the BJP-led NDA’s campaign is banking on “Modi’s promises”, the JMM-led alliance is riding on the Soren factor, targeting the PM more than any state BJP leader.

On November 9, at a rally in Hazaribagh, before inviting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a local BJP leader said: “Adarniya Pradhan Mantri Narendra Bhai Modi ke netratva me Atal ji ke sapno ka Jharkhand hame banana hai (Under Modi’s leadership, we have to develop Jharkhand as per the dreams of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee).”

The BJP’s Sankalp Patra or manifesto for the Assembly polls has photographs of Vajpayee, Modi, national party president JP Nadda and state party chief Babulal Marandi.

Nine pages in the manifesto are dedicated to “BJP ki uplabdhiyan (BJP’s achievements)”, with nearly 85% of it pertaining to the Centre’s works and schemes.

Several Jharkhand BJP leaders say this is “intentional”, given that the BJP has not been in power in the state for the last five years. The last BJP CM in the state was Raghubar Das whose term was between 2014 and 2019.

This reliance on the PM seems to be echoing among the BJP’s NDA allies too. The party’s junior ally AJSU Party (AJSUP), which has been demanding a deputy CM post, also says the PM is the main face.

“We know only Modi ji’s campaign will appeal to the voters. We do not know who will be the Chief Minister in the NDA government. Decision on that has to be taken by Modi ji. But one thing is for sure that AJSUP president Sudesh Mahto will be at least deputy CM in the NDA government,” said an AJSUP leader from the Silli Assembly seat, from where Mahto is contesting.

For its part, the JMM’s publicity material mainly has photographs of Soren and his father Shibu Soren, the party’s patriarch, along with a few pictures of the leaders of its allies Congress and RJD.

JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya says: “It is meaningless for us to target local BJP faces because the BJP’s central leaders and its leaders from other states like Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Himanta Biswa Sarma have taken over the BJP’s campaign. The JMM is campaigning with two helicopters but BJP leaders are moving in 22 helicopters… We are also targeting (industrialists) Adani and Ambani. Everyone know who is working for those industrialists.”

The Congress, which has strived to be a dominant ally owing to its national status, also seems to be relying on the JMM and Hemant Soren’s face.

Jharkhand Congress spokesperson RK Sinha says Soren is the “face of the alliance” besides being the “overall face in the elections”.

Jharkhand RJD spokesperson Rakesh Sharma echoes Sinha, saying “It is certainly Modi versus INDIA bloc here. Targeting the PM and his Central government is obvious because they neglected Jharkhand in development. They are still not speaking about basic issues.”

Sharma also says: “People in Jharkhand have sympathy for Hemant Soren because he was sent to jail (in the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering case) despite the fact that he was innocent. The tribal community is seeing that as harassment of a tribal leader. Champai Soren (who was the interim CM when Soren was in jail and later switched to the BJP) betrayed JMM and tribal community. The BJP inducted Champai but did not project him as a prominent face.”