CONG-LD JHARKHAND 2 LST

Congress sources said Marandi was adamant on contesting on
at least 31 seats in the 81-member House while it was not
willing to concede more than 25 seats to JVM, leading to a
deadlock.
Congress party sources maintained that they were willing
to give more seats to JVM in the Santhal Paragna belt of the
state to counter Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which has a
considerable following in the area but not in other parts of
the state where the Marandi's party is on a weak footing.
On the other hand, Marandi, a former Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) chief minister, wants seats in all pockets of the
state for his fledgling party which has a lone Member of
Parliament, Marandi himself, from Koderma.
Congress party sworkers from the state and party
office-bearers too have opposed an alliance with any party and
have conveyed their sentiments to the high command. Buoyed by
the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) election
results and the visit of AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi
to the state last month, they have told the central leadership
that the political interests of the party would be served well
if it went alone in the polls.
Congress party had constituted a Screening Committee for
the selection of candidates in Jharkhand two months ago before
elections were announced.
Indian Minister and AICC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik is
the Chairman of the Committee while Harikesh Bahadur a member
along with AICC in-charge of the state K Keshav Rao, the CLP
leader and the Pradesh Congress Committee President.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress party had
entered into an alliance with the JMM, dumping the Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD). Marandi, offered outside support to the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. PTI