Last effort by UPA to prevent Prez's rule

In a last ditch effort to ensure that UPA retains power in Jharkhand, Congress and RJD leaders from the state arrived in New Delhi to choose a consensus candidate to replace outgoing chief minister Shibu Soren.

In a last ditch effort to ensure that UPA retains power in Jharkhand, Congress and RJD leaders from the state arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to choose a consensus candidate to replace outgoing chief minister Shibu Soren.

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Leaders from coalition partners RJD and Congress besides some Independents plan to meet senior UPA leaders in New Delhi to hammer out a solution to the crisis after Soren failed to get himself elected to the state assembly within the stipulated six months after taking oath.

However, in a clear indication of the growing rift among Jharkhand UPA constituents, no JMM leader accompanied them.

The JMM chief took over the reins of the state in August last year and needed to be elected to the state assembly by February 27.

Soren who lost in the key Tamar by-polls last week projected a JMM MLA Champai Soren has his successor after his defeat -- a proposal shot down by both Congress and RJD.

State Congress president Pradip Balmuchu, who is already camping in the national capital, today met the party president Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of the current political situation in the tribal state.

"I am hopeful of a solution in a day or two," Balmuchu told reporters.

Soren's deputy Stephen Marandi too aired similar views that a solution could be worked out in a couple of days and a consensus candidate could be found out.

UPA partners in Jharkhand do not want imposition of President's Rule by dissolving the current assembly, the term of which is to expire in February next year.