New Delhi: The Congress on Monday played down the absence of JMM during the nomination of opposition presidential nominee Yashwant Sinha and claimed that the party’s alliance in Jharkhand was intact. “The party’s alliance with the JMM is intact. There is no difference between the alliance partners. The alliance was forged on a common minimum program and aims at giving good governance in the state,” Congress spokesperson Prof Gourav Vallabh said.
“They are a separate political party. They take the entire scenario into consideration and take a stand on such political issues as which presidential candidate to support. From our side, we are supporting Sinha Ji,” he said.
Congress Legislative Party leader in Jharkhand Assembly Alamgir Alam too backed Prof Vallabh’s views. “The alliance is intact and we are working together as per the common minimum program. We were expected to be in Delhi today but got busy with the Agnipath protests,” said Alam.
To further support his statement that there is no difference among the alliance partners, Alam said that he along with state unit chief Rajesh Thakur and newly elected MLA from Mander Shilpa Tirkey had met the chief minister on Sunday in a very cordial atmosphere. “Stands on the presidential polls are decided by the top leadership of the two parties. We are guided by the guidelines from the central leadership. The local issues and national issues are different,” said Alam.
Recently, NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, who shares a personal equation with the Soren family and is also a Tribal leader, had called up Hemant Soren to seek JMM’s support in the July 18 polls. Later, a meeting of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha parliamentarians and legislators was held at the chief minister’s residence under the chairmanship of party supremo Shibu Soren but remained inconclusive on whom to support, Murmu or Sinha.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi in the late evening to discuss some “issues” before deciding which presidential candidate to support. “As the CM would be in Delhi, he will meet our senior leadership and explain his position,” said Alam.
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Earlier this month, there were reports that the state Congress leaders were miffed over JMM announcing its own candidate for one Rajya Sabha seat from the state when the Congress was expecting to get that chance.
Days after the chief minister assured Congress chief Sonia Gandhi over the Rajya Sabha seat, he named JMM leader Mahua Maji for the contest, leaving the grand old party miffed. The Congress was expecting the RS seat as the grand old party had vacated the slot for JMM founder Shibu Soren in 2016. However, later the two parties had sorted out the matter. “I had said then too that there were no differences between the alliance partners,” said Prof Vallabh.
