Congress seals deal with JMM

RANCHI: A day after RJD and LJP announced what they said UPA's seat-sharing formula for Bihar leaving only three of the state's 40 seats for Congress, the Congress on Wednesday sealed its deal with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand, leaving only two of the state's 14 seats for the RJD.

"The Congress and JMM would contest from seven and five constituencies respectively," state Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu told TOI over phone from Delhi.

The deal was finalised at a meeting in Delhi which was attended by JMM chief Shibu Soren, party MP Hemlal Murmu, Balmuchu and AICC leader and incharge of party's Jharkhand affairs K Keshav Rao.

Both the parties have got one seat each in addition to the seats on which they have sitting MPs. While Hazaribagh has gone to JMM, Congress would field its candidate from Koderma.

The two parties haven't taken a call on Chatra and Palamu, currently represented in the Lok Sabha by RJD MPs. "If the RJD and LJP do not enter into a respectable seat-sharing pact with the Congress in Bihar, we would field our candidates in Palamu and Chatra as well," a state Congress leader said.