Ranchi: A demand for contesting the Jharkhand Assembly elections on its own is being raised within the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The party has meanwhile authorized party president and former Chief Minister Sibu Soren for taking a decision on dissident party leader Simon Marandi.
Party sources said the central working committee of the party held a meeting on the issue of contesting Jharkhand Assembly election at the government residence of Sibu Soren at Morabadi. Party leaders discussed the issue of contesting the election alone and many of them agreed that such a decision could be given the go-ahead by the party as most of the party leaders are of the same opinion.
Party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said the party hoped for better results in the Lok Sabha elections this year as compared to previous elections. He said the party had contested from four Lok Sabha seats where it hoped to fetch a large number of votes. He said Bharatiya Janata Party was going to lose the battle since it had performed very bad on all the seats in the state.
Asked about the axe hanging on the candidature of Simon Marandi, senior JMM leader who is currently in the bad books of party leaders, Sibu Soren and Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bhattacharya said, �Guruji (Sibu Soren) will take the final decision in this regard. Whatever he decides will be acceptable to all party leaders. A notice was issued to Simon Marandi recently on charges of showing indiscipline during election. He has sent his reply to the party which has been forwarded to Guruji. Now we are waiting for his replay.�
The JMM leaders said Guruji should take up the issue concerning Simon Marandi�s candidature and decide if he is to me expelled from the party or to be allowed to continue as a member. They however said chances of Simon continuing in the party were very few since the recent developments were adverse to this possibility.
