Another UPA ally that Congress wants to distance itself from.
After breaking its truck with old allies Lalu Prasad’s RJD and Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP during the general elections in May, the Congress party is set to isolate another UPA ally, Shibu Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), for the forthcoming Jharkhand assembly election scheduled for December.
Though the Congress and JMM have jointly fought general and state elections since 2004, senior Congress sources said the “possibility of any pre-poll alliance with Soren this time can be discounted.” However, a senior party functionary said that the Congress could explore the possibility of an alliance with former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM). Marandi, a former BJP strongman and Jharkhand’s first CM, had quit the BJP citing differences with the party leadership and formed the JVM in 2006.
Congress sources admit the party’s prospects of victory in the state aren’t too bright but claim that allying with the JMM, RJD or LJP would further dent its image. “There is extreme factionalism in the party’s state unit. Changes in the organisation are unlikely to yield results in such a short time. Allying with the JMM, RJD or LJP will further dent our base, given the electorate’s lack of confidence in these parties,” a Congress leader said.
Allying with the JMM would send a signal that Soren would be CM in case of victory. “Soren’s image has taken a strong beating and any impression that he would be made CM would turn the masses, especially non-tribals, away. Marandi, on the other hand, has a good image and could be an ally,” sources said.
The, JMM, too has made it clear it would prefer to go it alone in the December polls. Soren’s son and party’s Rajya Sabha MP Hemant Soren remarked in Ranchi, “There is no time to form any alliance. The party has not benefited from any alliance and will go it alone.”
The JMM has already begun the process of finalising candidates for the assembly polls beginning November 27. The Congress may, sometime next week, make an official announcement on whether it would fight the polls on its own or in an alliance.
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