Congress, JMM alliance runs into rough weather

Congress efforts to arrive at a seat-sharing arrangement with four other parties to fight the ensuing Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Orissa has run into rough weather again.

Congress efforts to arrive at a seat-sharing arrangement with four other parties to fight the ensuing Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Orissa has run into rough weather again with the JMM threatening to walk out if not allowed seven assembly seats.

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The Congress had allotted five assembly seats---three in Mayurbhanj district and two in Sundargarh district---to the JMM while the latter insisted on five seats in Mayurbhanj alone.

"We must be allowed seven seats if the Congress wants the alliance to stand", JMM state chief Sudam Marandi told a news conference here today.

The Congress had also conceded the Mayurbhanj (ST) Lok Sabha seat to the JMM to be contested by Marandi himself.

Pointing out that the Congress had named candidates for six of the ten assembly seats in Mayurbhanj district, Marandi said the JMM must be conceded the Baripada and Rairangpur(ST) seats in addition to the three---Bahalda, Kuliana and Bangiriposhi---reserve seats already given.

The Raghunathpalli (ST) and Biramitrapur (ST) constituencies in Sundargarh district had also been given to the JMM by the Congress.