Saturday, May 28 2005 10:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ranchi: Division in the Jharkhand United Progressive Alliance (UPA) yesterday (May 27, 2005) came to the fore with neither the Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha (JMM) nor Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) willing to withdraw their candidates for the June 3 Rajya Sabha elections, leaving National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and former Union Minister Digvijay Singh comfortably placed to clinch the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the State.

The development led UPA convenor and former deputy Chief Minister in the short-lived Shibu Soren UPA Government to target the party supremo for not allowing withdrawal of the nomination of his son, Durga Soren.

"I quit the JMM over the family politics of Guruji (Shibu Soren). He runs the party arbitrarily, and now he wants to run the UPA in a similar fashion," Marandi said regretting a chance had been lost to put up a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA.

Recalling his protests against the JMM chief for giving a party ticket to his younger son, Hemant, from the Dumka seat during the Assembly elections, Marandi said, "Had JMM fielded any other candidate other than Durga this time, I would have personally gone to RJD chief Laloo Prasad to request him to withdraw his candidate from the Rajya Sabha contest."

"Durga Soren should retire from the race. It is unfortunate that the Sorens have not learnt any lesson from the defeats of Durga and Hemant (from Jama and Dumka Assembly constituencies respectively)," he added.

Meanwhile, refusing to withdraw Muktinath Upadhaya from the fray, RJD's legislature party leader, Girinath Singh, said his party had conceded to the JMM on the last two occasions and also accepted Shibu Soren as the UPA Chief Minister. "Are we there only to accept candidates and vote for them?" Singh asked.

The leader of the Opposition, Sudhir Mahto of the JMM, however, was optimistic about a solution.

"Guruji would hold discussions with both All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Laloo Prasad to sort out the matter before the elections," he said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) Liberation, Secretary Subhendu Sen said with the last date of withdrawal expiring the result for the lone seat was a "foregone conclusion".

"The UPA, at least in Jharkhand, has been exposed. Now that they have not withdrawn their candidate, voting or not voting for any candidate has little significance," Sen said.