Seeking assurance

Ranchi, May 22: JVM chief Babulal Marandi insists he isn’t part of the UPA but had extended support to the Congress since he was asked for it, thereby keeping his options open with an eye on Assembly elections in the state whenever that happens.

“The Congress solicited my support and I extended it for a stable government. That is all,” the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha chief said today. “I only wanted an assurance (from the Congress) that the state Assembly will be dissolved soon, paving the way for fresh elections.”

The former chief minister, whose party fielded candidates in all 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state, ended up winning only one — his own in Koderma. Yet, he claimed the JVM had not performed badly going by vote share. “The JVM has bagged over 10 per cent of the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha polls here, enabling it to be registered with the Election Commission. We have got enough from the people, considering we are only three years old. We will surely do well in the Assembly polls, even if we go it alone,” he maintained.

However, Marandi does not rule out an alliance with the Congress which has the JMM and former chief minister Madhu Koda in its camp. “It’s now for the Congress to respond to our move,” he said.

Sources close to him doubted whether political compulsions of the state would allow Marandi to tie up with the Congress. The JMM’s vote share in the Lok Sabha was marginally more than the JVM’s at 11.70 per cent.

In fact, Marandi’s support to the Congress hasn’t gone down well with a section of party leaders, especially those who had joined JVM after quitting the BJP. They feel the JVM should be more inclined towards the BJP rather than the Congress.

“If we join hands with the Congress-JMM-Koda combine, we will not have the moral right to speak out against corruption that was prevalent in the state while handing out mining leases during the Koda-Shibu Soren regime,” pointed out Deepak Prakash, the JVM general secretary, a former BJP leader.

But those who joined Marandi from parties other than the BJP justified his pro-Congress overtures. “We extended support to break a psychological barrier. Everybody believed that Marandi’s party was a B-team to the BJP and that he would join the saffron brigade sooner than later,” said Saba Ahmad, the JVM vice- president, a former Congress MLA. “Now, we have shown that Marandi has no connection with the BJP any more,” he said.

State Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu said it would take time for alliances to firm up. “It is premature to say anything definite now. But it appears that Marandi will not be our partner till Soren is with us,” he said.