The Congress and JMM have finally reached a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand, but JVM is unhappy with the two seats it has been given with party chief Babulal Marandi even threatening to pull out of the pre-election alliance. According to a senior leader, who was privy to discussions held at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s residence here on Thursday, the Congress would contest seven, the JMM four, JVM two and RJD one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Rahul met JMM leader Hemant Soren, along with state Congress chief Ajoy Kumar and the party’s Jharkhand minder R.P.N. After the talks, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) sources confirmed, the “framework” of the alliance between the Congress, JMM, JVM and RJD had been worked out. “We are looking at the option of including the Left (which has two MLAs),” said a senior Congress leader.

Source: The Telegraph February 08, 2019 23:03 UTC