The Hindu : Congress may gain by alliance with Jharkhand Front

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Congress may gain by alliance with Jharkhand Front

JAMSHEDPUR, MARCH 2. An alliance with the Jharkhand Front (JF) for the coming Lok Sabha elections will be beneficial for the Congress and will enable it to increase its vote share in Jharkhand, JF convener and Jharkhand Vikash Dal (JVD) working president, Suraj Mandal, has claimed.

Mr Mandal told UNI that an alliance with the JF would help the Congress increase its vote share by 25 to 30 per cent. ``If the Congress does not forge an alliance with the JF, then it has to face the music,'' he said.

He claimed that a tie-up with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in Jharkhand would be ``suicidal'' for the Congress.

Mr Mandal said talks were on with the Congress high command regarding the alliance and an agreement was expected by March 10. He said Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Thomas Hansda was also in favour of the alliance with the JF.

He said the list of JF candidates would be announced on March 16.

Asked from where he would like to contest, the JVD leader said, ``At present there are six constituencies from where I can contest. But I have not decided yet.''

Mr Mandal said he had requested Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP) founder and one of the conveners of the JF, Salkhan Murmu, to contest from the Dumka seat against JMM president, Shibu Soren, whose mass base had eroded considerably. ``There is an anti-Soren and anti-JMM feeling in the state and we have to exploit it,'' he said.

Mr Mandal, also the former JMM vice-president who quit the party following differences with Mr Soren, said the BJP and JMM were the two main foes of JF in the state and claimed both parties would be wiped out from the state after the elections.

He also claimed that two ministers of the Arjun Munda cabinet would resign from the ministry soon to contest the polls while refusing to disclose the names. -- UNI

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