The Congress saw emotions of party men and heard their objections to alliance. However, when it came to take a call on it, decided what is best in the interest of the party in Jharkhand. The party today officially declared its wish to contest election jointly and form a ‘grand alliance’ in the State.
In a meeting convened here, the Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) made up its mind to extend the proposal to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to give shape to the idea of the alliance which is likely also to feature Janta Dal- United (JD-U) besides smaller parties interested in contesting elections under one banner. The JD-U is currently not a part of the alliance in the State which includes Rashtriya Janta Dal also.
“Congress will go into elections under a ‘grand alliance’ with JMM, RJD, JD-U and other parties with similar ideologies,” Congress’ state in-charge BK Hariprasad said.
According to sources in the Congress, party’s top brass held a meeting with Chief Minister Hemant Soren later in the evening to discuss the framework for alliance. leaders of both-- the Congress and JMM—left discussion on seat sharing for later stages of negotiation.
“Discussion was focused on how to stop BJP in the State and on protecting respect of alliance partners,” said a source in the Congress.
However, parties need to surmount the challenge of seat sharing which is going to serve as the litmus test to determine whether alliance will materialize or not.
“A final decision on seat sharing will be taken only after discussing the matter with parties under the ‘grand alliance’,” maintained Hariprasad.
Meanwhile, party is optimistic about placating JMM, which wants about 50 seats under its belt to contest elections under the alliance, to allow more space to accommodate other parties in the alliance.
“Things can be worked out by sitting and discussing (seat sharing),” said Rajya Sabha MP, Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu.
The meeting was attended by Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu, JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat, Congress legislature Party leader Rajendra Prasad Singh; Dhanbad MlA Mannan Mallick, Sisai MlA, Geetashree Oraon, Jamshedpur MlA Banna Gupta, Daltongnaj MlA KN Tripathi, Bhavnathpur MlA Anant Pratap Dev and senior Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay.
Meanwhile, Congress will convene third meeting of the manifesto committee tomorrow and the draft is likely to be finalized in the meeting which will be convened under the leadership of the JPCC president.