Babulal Marandi at a rally in Jharkhand. (PTI)

Ranchi, March 12: Former chief minister Babulal Marandi may have skipped today’s gala launch of the Third Front in Karnataka, but he made it amply clear that he would be with the non-Congress, non-BJP platform during this election.

Marandi, who was in New Delhi today, said he was in touch with all the constituents of the Third Front. “But it will not be politically prudent for me to withdraw my nominees now. It will send a wrong message to the electorate,” he clarified

The Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) has fielded nominees in 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and was still looking out for “suitable” candidates for Ranchi and Dhanbad. Marandi, who was part of the Third Front earlier too, said his performance in the Lok Sabha elections would be his trump card for contesting Assembly elections in Jharkhand.

As far as alliances go, none of the two primary ones seems to be having it good. While the NDA is finding it tough to decide on Dhanbad, the UPA seems headed for a confrontation over the Hazaribagh and Koderma seats. State JD(U) president Jaleshwar Mahto said he was firm on contesting the Dhanbad seat, even though the BJP had already declared P.N. Singh as its nominee.

The BJP had announced nominees for 11 seats and has been keeping its junior partners guessing over the remaining three — Palamau, Chatra and Koderma.

“It is for the BJP to see whether the alliance continues or not,” Mahto said.

UPA partners — the Congress, RJD and JMM —may have agreed to a simple formula to share seats — parties with sitting MPs get to contest the seat. But two seats, Hazaribagh and Koderma, continue to be a problem for them.

The JMM is eyeing Hazaribagh, even though it is held by the Congress. JMM boss Shibu Soren, who has been released from AIIMS, has hopes of persuading the Congress to part with that seat.

On his own, the JMM chief is all set to fight the Dumka parliamentary seat. Significantly, Ram Vilas Paswan, supposed to be a “kingmaker” in Bihar has found no takers in Jharkhand. The UPA coalition partners have refused to accommodate his Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in their alliance.

But undeterred, the LJP has now announced its intention of contesting six of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand. These include Palamau, Chatra, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Jamshedpur districts.