Ranchi/Jamshedpur, April 21: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has decided to go it alone in the forthcoming by-elections of two Assembly seats with senior party leaders, including former chief minister Hemant Soren, saying there was no question of an alliance with RJD or Congress.

While JMM spokesperson and general secretary Vinod Kumar Pandey said they were getting ready for the by-elections in Godda and Panki scheduled for May 16, the Congress reacted cautiously to the JMM snub, adding that they were in the process of finalising candidates.

"Both the Congress and RJD talk about an alliance of anti-BJP forces, but we are not convinced as they have never performed gathbandhan (coalition) dharma. We will be fielding our own candidates from both the seats," Pandey said, adding that leaders from Godda and Panki would be coming to Ranchi tomorrow to propose names of possible candidates.

In Jamshedpur, JMM national general Supriyo Bhattacharya elaborated on the reasons behind their move. Addressing the media at Nirmal Guest House in the Circuit House Area of the steel city, he said, "We supported the RJD to get their candidate (Prem Chand Gupta) elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2014 and also supported the Congress. We also supported Congress and RJD while forming the government in Jharkhand, but unfortunately they did not respect coalition politics. Hence, based on the advise of Guruji (Shibu Soren) we have decided to field candidates for the Panki and Godda by-elections."

JMM inducted former Odisha DGP Sanjeev Marik and director of Ranchi-based Oxford Public School Kushwaha Shashi Bhushan Mehta into the party on Monday. Both are tipped for JMM tickets _ Marik for Godda and Mehta for Panki .

The Panki seat was held by the late Bidesh Singh of the Congress, while Godda was held by the late Raghunandan Mandal of the BJP.

Sources maintained that a Congress delegation had met party national president Hemant Soren even as RJD supremo Laloo Yadav also held discussions with him over telephone yesterday. But, JMM leaders were adamant on going it alone.

The Congress chose not to react to the JMM's no-alliance announcement. "We are yet to decide on candidates. We will hold a party co-ordination committee meeting to finalise matters. Yes, Panki is our seating seat and we would like to field a candidate from there," said state Congress president Sukhdev Bhagat.

Even though the Congress would not admit publicly, the late Bidesh Singh's son, Devendra, is being tipped for a party ticket from Panki.

With the Opposition parties likely to go it alone, BJP may emerge stronger in both the districts. State BJP president and Koderma MP Ravindra Rai chaired an election committee meeting at the party's Harmu road office today. Sources said Amit Mandal, son of the late Raghunandan Mandal, would be the likely BJP candidate from Godda. A formal announcement would be made in the next couple of days.

As for the RJD, former MLA from Godda Sanjay Prasad Yadav would be the candidate for the seat, according to the party's national vice-president and former minister Annapurna Devi. Yadav was elected MLA from Godda for two terms in 2000 and 2009.

He told The Telegraph that he would be filing his nomination on April 25.