Congress, JMM to form alliance in Jharkhand?

With President's rule scheduled to end in Jharkhand on July 18, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress leaders on Tuesday held talks on the possibility of formation of a government in the state.

All Indian Congress Committee General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed, Congress in-charge of the state B K Hariprasad, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committe president Sukhdeo Bhagat and Congress Legislature Party leader R P Singh called on JMM supremo Shibu Soren and his son, Hemant. "They called on Guruji (Shibu Soren) and Hemant Soren to discuss government formation," JMM General Secretary Suprio Bhattacharya said in Ranchi.

A Congress leader said Ahmed, Prasad and some other party leaders would leave for Delhi to carry on the dialogue with the JMM there amidst heightened possibility of government formation with the support of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and some independent MLAs. "I will tell you tomorrow (on Wednesday)," Hemant Soren, a former deputy chief minister, said when asked about the initiatives on government formation.

RJD’s Legislature Party leader Annapurna Devi, said, "We don’t know anything about their initiatives on government formation. Nobody has contacted us." "Why didn't they take this initiative after the President’s rule was imposed? Why this delayed?" she asked. She, however, said, the party would abide by RJD chief Lalu Prasad's directives.

With 36 MLAs -- JMM (18), Congress (13) and RJD (5) -- the Congress and the JMM leaders were banking on the support of some independent MLAs for a simple majority of 42 in the 82-member assembly. A couple of independent MLAs had been in the erstwhile BJP-JMM coalition government in the state before the JMM withdrew support on January 8 this year, leading to the imposition of central rule on January 18.