Marandi's party to stay away from Rajya Sabha poll

Ranchi, April 23 (IANS) Ahead of the May 3 Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand, the Congress suffered a setback Monday when its alliance partner, the JVM-P of Babulal Marandi, said it will not support the party in the biennial elections for the two seats and will stay away from it.

"Our party will stay away from the Rajya Sabha poll. Congress did not accept our suggestion to field common candidate for the elections", said Marandi, a former chief minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) president. JVM-P, a pre-poll alliance partner of the Congress, has 11 legislators in the 81 member Jharkhand assembly.

He said: "We had suggested some names for the Rajya Sabha seats, but Congress did not accept our request. We will not support the Congress in the elections."

JVM-P had fielded a candidate for the March 30 poll which was countermanded following horse trading charges, which are being investigated by the CBI.

"We had apprised Congress central leaders about our stand. We had also requested to decide on the seats for the upcoming assembly and Lok sabha polls from where JVM-P will be fighting. Congress leaders did not consider our demands. Now we will fight the future LoK sabha and assembly polls alone," Marandi said.