A government official checks on EVMs kept at Birsa Munda Football Stadium, Morabadi, in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Oct. 30: If the Congress is looking for a credible alliance partner to undo the party’s misadventure with Madhu Koda, then Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha seems to be its best bet.

And going by what Marandi told The Telegraph today, discussions on a possible tie-up haven’t gone on too badly. “The talks are progressing well. We believe a clear picture will emerge by tomorrow,” the JVM chief said.

Pointing out that a final decision was expected in a day or two, Marandi said the issue was over two to three seats only. “I have made it clear that the alliance should be (formed) to win the elections and not for the sake of merely fighting the elections,” he said.

Marandi, who is understood to have staked claim to 36 seats for the JVM — almost half the strength of the Assembly — also kept a way out for himself. All options are open in politics, he said when asked about the JVM’s relationship with Lalu Prasad’s RJD.

The Congress, for whom it is a do-or-die battle in Jharkhand, is keen not only about the Marandi-led JVM, it is also looking at smaller parties like All Jharkhand Students Union (Ajsu) and Adivasi Chhatra Sangh (ACS), primarily to isolate Shibu Soren and JMM.

Banking on “borrowed players” like Stephen Marandi in Dumka and Radha Krishna Kishore in Palamau, the party has been eyeing Marandi ever since he declared unconditional support to the Congress-led government at the Centre.

The Congress leadership understands that the JVM chief was the only credible tribal face in the state. “We have everything in our saddle to successfully counter the BJP, but a clean tribal face to shore up our electoral fortunes,” said a Delhi-based Congress leader.

“So Marandi could be the best bet for the Congress to vanquish the rival BJP and establish our sway in the state,” he added.

An alliance with Marandi will also help the Congress regain the credibility it had so badly lost after propping up a government of Independents led by Madhu Koda that turned out to be inefficient and corrupt.

Marandi is the only one who could help K. Keshav Rao, the Congress in-charge for Jharkhand, deliver on his promise of providing the state a “clean and honest government”.

The factors in Marandi’s favour were his individual popularity and the JVM’s performance in the last Lok Sabha elections, bolstered by findings of an internal party survey that painted a bleak future for the Congress if it jumped into the fray alone.

The Congress, which hasn’t been able to form a government here since the state’s inception in 2000, won only one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand.

Political analysts believed if they fought alone, Marandi may not get more than eight seats, while the Congress would gain four to five seats over its 1999 tally of nine. That would help the BJP come close to the magic figure of 41 in a House of 81 MLAs.