Jamshedpur, June 6: Mounting tensions between Congress and JVM in the run-up to the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha bypoll could well be the proverbial last straw to break the back of the political friendship that pitted itself against the BJP-JMM combine.

Congress state president Pradeep Balmuchu said as much, while criticising ally JVM for going back on promises. “Hum JVM ko dho rahen hain kyonki yeh hamari majboori hai. Jharkhand ke Congressi unke saath kisi tarah ka sambandh nahin rakhna chahte (We are forced to carry on with the JVM. No Congress leader in Jharkhand wants any relationship with that party),” he fumed.

Balmuchu, eyeing the prestigious Jamshedpur seat, said Congress leaders in Delhi were keen on JVM. “But in Jharkhand, MPs and MLAs are opposed to a partnership with Babulal Marandi,” the former Ghatshila legislator said.

Balmuchu said JVM was needlessly hurting Congress sentiments by fielding a rival. “Marandi vowed before Ahmed Patel (political secretary to Sonia Gandhi) that the JVM wouldn’t field a candidate in Jamshedpur, an agreement made in lieu of our support to the JVM nominee at the Kharsawan bypoll,” he said.

According to him, the Jamshedpur bypoll could signal the end of the alliance. “Jamshedpur is a traditional Congress bastion. Here, Marandi should replicate our Kharsawan gesture,” Balmuchu said, adding he would remind the JVM supremo about his vow.

On former Jamshedpur SP Ajoy Kumar being touted as the JVM candidate from here, Balmuchu claimed Kumar’s candidature would only benefit the Congress, but declined to say how.