Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday held consultations with senior party leaders, including Defence Minister AK Antony, as talks for an alliance with JMM for the next lok Sabha polls and formation of a coalition Government in Jharkhand reached the final stage.
Antony, who chairs the Congress sub-group on alliances for the next general elections, AICC general secretary in-charge of Jharkhand BK Hariprasad, AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, PCC chief Sukhdeo Bhagat and ClP leader Rajendra Singh met Sonia in the morning to apprise her of the progress of the talks with JMM.
Under the negotiations while JMM supremo Shibu Soren’s son Hemant will get the Chief Minister’s post while the Congress will get a major chunk of 14 lok Sabha seats i.e. about nine to 10, sources said. Entering the Government for the first time since formation of Jharkhand, the Congress, which has 13 MlA, will get five to six ministerial berths but there will be no Deputy Chief Minister. The Congress is keen to get Speaker’s post while JMM is likely to chair the Coordination Committee. The Committee is necessary for better monitoring of the Government’s functioning, sources said.
RJD, which has five MlAs in Jharkhand, will also be part of the coalition Government. Hemant met RJD supremo lalu Prasad in this regard on Tuesday night. He also held talks with senior Congress leaders including Ahmad Patel. Once the finishing touches are given to the arrangement, Hemant is likely to meet Sonia after which a final announcement will be made.
Earlier, the Congress had apprehensions about entering an alliance with JMM in view of its bitter experience of supporting the Madhu Koda Government which was later found embroiled in mining scam. But the party ultimately realised the necessity of alliance for the lok Sabha polls as in 2004 the Congress-JMM-RJD-CPI alliance had got 12 of the 14 seats while going alone in 2009 the Congress got a single seat.