Hemant Soren: No difference with Congress, will field joint candidate for RS polls

New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) A day after Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren met interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader said on Sunday that there are no differences with the Congress with regard to Rajya Sabha polls, and the two parties will field a joint candidate.

Congress is part of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand led by JMM.

“I came to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi to discuss about the RS polls and there are no differences with the Congress,” Soren said.

Two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand will go to the polls with the tenures of Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and BJP MP Mahesh Poddar getting over on July 7. Voting will be held on June 10.

While both JMM and Congress were seen pushing for their own candidates, sources said that Soren has apprised the situation to Sonia Gandhi and he is waiting for a final nod from her.

Soren also slammed the ongoing ED investigation in the state and alleged that even after 20 days, there has been no official update on it.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday granted additional time to Soren to appear before it in a case related mining lease.

The ECI asked Soren to make the submission on June 14 instead of the earlier scheduled date of May 31 to explain why not his membership in the house be cancelled over charges of having a mining lease issued in his favour.

–IANS
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