Wednesday, June 1 2005 09:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ranchi: Unable to reach a consensus for the June 3 Rajya Sabha elections, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in Jharkhand yesterday (May 31, 2005) put the ball in the court of central leadership of the alliance to settle the issue between the Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The two alliance partners have fielded candidates against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) contestant Digvijay Singh.

"Now the matter has been left for the UPA's central leadership, whose decision would be accepted by both the JMM and the RJD," the coalition's state unit Convenor Stephen Marandi told newsmen in Ranchi.

The leaders, including JMM chief Shibu Soren and RJD legislature party leader Girinath Singh, could not reach a consensus on who should retire from the race and field a single UPA candidate from the State, Marandi said.

"Guruji (Shibu Soren) and Girinathji then agreed that it should be left to the central leadership and that they (the two) would accept whatever it decides," Marandi, who had held the post of Deputy Chief Minister in the short-lived UPA Government, said.

While Shibu Soren's son, Durga, is in the fray from the JMM side, RJD has fielded Muktinath Upadhyay. Incidentally Upadhyay was the former JMM spokesman before relations soured with Durga Soren and he left the party to join the RJD.

In another decision, the UPA proposed for fostering a UPA-Left coordination in Jharkhand to fight for people's cause.

"We have asked the Left parties to impress upon their central leaders on our proposal. If they agree, the UPA-Left coordination could take the fight into the NDA camp," Marandi said.