Congress, JMM truck moving on bumpy road

The less than a year old alliance of the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is in trouble.

The JMM is holding talks with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for a tie-up in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha, putting aside its pre-poll pact with the Congress. 

“Yes. We are discussing seat sharing arrangement with the BJD to field our candidates in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts,” JMM’s general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya told Deccan Herald on Friday. He, however, refused to speak further, when asked about the fate of his party’s pre-poll alliance with the Congress.

In Bhubaneshwar, Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik also confirmed that his party was in talks with the JMM for an alliance in the upcoming polls. "The BJD will have seat sharing arrangements with the JMM in the forthcoming elections. I am sure that both the parties will do very well jointly in Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh districts," he reportedly said.