Source: hindustantimes.com
The Opposition parties on Wednesday outlined the contours of pre-poll alliance at the residence of JMM working president Hemant Soren.
The leaders stressed on charting out a mutually agreeable formula ahead of the assembly polls.
It was agreed that the parties will give candidates from the seats they had won respectively in 2014 and there was no qualm on it.
The parties also stressed on earmarking the seats in the name of the respective parties wherefrom they finished second in the last assembly election.
Besides, there was confusion over the rights of the JVM (P) to contest the six assembly seats it had owned in 2014 but the party legislators defected to the BJP after winning.
The above two contentions were kept open for further discussions and debate while the allies have been asked to submit their wish list within seven days in writing. The grand alliance of the opposition is cautious after being humiliated by the BJP.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of Congress, JVM (P), RJD, Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) and Forward Bloc.
However, the main Left parties – the CPI, CPI (M) and CPI (ML) Liberation did not attend. The decision was taken on Tuesday.
The Left decided to identify the seats the parties want to contest and to negotiate with the grand alliance parties thereafter. Confirming this, CPI state secretary Bhubaneswar Prasad Mehta said the Left parties will meet on July 16 to finalise their list.
Clarifying further, CPI national secretary Atul Anjan said the Left is open for negotiations. We will support any forces that are keen to defeat the BJP, he said. He said that the most Opposition parties do not have ideas on how the BJP is disintegrating the Opposition engineering defection.
JMM working president Hemant Soren, after the meeting, said that the efforts are on to bring all Opposition parties under one umbrella to show BJP the exit door. He said the parties have been directed to identify the seats they are confident of winning and submit it in writing in one week.
On claims of the parties from the sitting seats they had owned in 2014, Hemant said it is a natural claim. For the rest of the seats, decisions would be taken later regarding who will contest where, he said.
On the vexed issue of seats owned by six JVM (P) legislators, who joined the BJP later, he said, “We are serious on that too and working on mutually agreeable solution before staking claims on those seats.”