J’khand jolt to I.N.D.I.A bloc as JMM turns down Cong seat-share formula
RANCHI : The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Wednesday rejected the seat-sharing formula with Congress, dealing another blow to the grand old party already struggling to finalise its candidates for Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand.
As per the seat-sharing arrangement reached earlier, the Congress was to contest on seven seats and JMM on five, while the RJD and the Left were to contest on one seat each from the JMM quota. Referring to the Congress’s claims of reaching a consensus over the formula 7-5-1-1, JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya denied knowing any such formula.
Any decision, he added, should be taken keeping the ground reality into consideration. As per the consensus reached earlier, seven seats, including Khunti, Lohardaga, and Godda, were to remain with Congress, while JMM was contested on five seats, including Singhbhum, Giridih and Chatra. Koderma was to go to CPI (ML) and Palamu seat to the RJD.
According to Bhattacharya, they have already expressed their feelings to the Congress leadership, who will take any decision accordingly. Notably, the JMM is demanding the Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat, which has gone into the folio of Congress, saying the Congress has been losing the seat for the last two polls and hence, JMM should be given a chance as it has a mass base in the region.
Congress, on the other hand, has said that let the time come and everything will be clear. “Let the time come…it will be clear which alliance partner will contest on how many seats,” said Congress spokesperson Rakesh Sinha. Meanwhile, the Congress Election Committee, headed by party Chief Mallikarjun Kharge, is meeting in Delhi to decide on the list of candidates.
The panel has given its nod to field Subodh Kant Sahay from Ranchi, Sukhdeo Bhagat from Lohardaga, Kalicharan Munda from Khunti and Jai Prakash Bhai Patel from Hazaribagh.