JD (S) to back Cong alliance

The Janata Dal (S), which has fielded candidates in eight assembly seats in Orissa, will extend its "moral support" to the Congress-led alliance.

The Janata Dal (S), which has fielded candidates in eight assembly seats in Orissa, will extend its "moral support" to the Congress-led alliance.

The Congress, which has formed an alliance with the CPI, CPI (M), JMM and Orissa Gana Parishad, has no candidate in Korei and Junagarh seats where the JD (S) would be the main opponent of the BJD-BJP coalition, the state JD (S) chief Ashok Das told reporters here on Sunday.

Das himself is seeking re-election from the Korei seat while in Junagarh it had set up Sushil Kumar Panda. The Congress extended its support to the JD (S) nominee at Junagarh after the nomination papers of its candidate Ananta Pratap Deo were rejected during scrutiny.

Asserting that the JD (S) did not have any formal alliance with the Congress, Das said the party had extended its "moral support" to the Congress-led coalition against the ruling alliance.

Asked if there would be "friendly contest" between the Congress and JD (S) candidates in the remaining six seats, he quipped "what's friendly about a contest? A contest is a contest".

The other JD (S) candidates in the fray are Amarsingh Tudu (Bangiriposhi-ST), Pradeep Chakraborty (Baripada), Sankar Bidika (Rayagada-ST), Daniel Bagh (Koraput), Thabira Naik (Bhawanipatna-SC) and Tejraj Bhoi (Bijepur).

HT Image