Second round of meet on seat sharing held in Delhi

Ranchi: After forming a mahagathbandhan to contest against BJP, opposition parties in Jharkhand met for the second round of discussions in New Delhi to finalize a seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha and the state assembly polls.
JMM working president Hemant Soren, JVM-P general secretaries Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey, Jharkhand Congress president Ajoy Kumar, Congress national in-charge for the state RPN Singh and his deputy Umang Singhar met at Madhya Pradesh Bhavan in Chanakyapuri in the national capital. However, the parties did not reach any agreement at the meeting, sources said.

While he did not divulge details of the meeting, Yadav, who spoke briefly to TOI over phone, said: “The meeting happened with representatives of all parties. The modalities of the mahagathbandhan were discussed. The discussions will continue.” He however maintained that an official announcement will be made in a couple of days. While Soren could not be contacted, Kumar and Singh did not respond to calls.

The parties had earlier announced to finalize a seat-sharing agreement by January 30, but missed their self-imposed deadline. Soren and JVM-P chief Babulal Marandi had visited New Delhi in the last week of January for individual discussions with Congress, one of the key parties in the alliance. All camps, however, have been maintaining that formal announcement of seat-sharing agreement is only a matter of time.

While Congress is eyeing six seats of 14 parliamentary seats in the state, JMM and JVM-P are driving a hard bargain for four seats each. RJD, another alliance partner, is demanding three seats while the Left parties want to contest from three.