Unnatural, says Congress

The Congress on Wednesday described the new- found bonhomie between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha as an “unnatural combination of vested interests.”

Asked about the decision of the two parties to forge an alliance in Jharkhand, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said: “The BJP - which has all along criticised the Shiv Sena and has come down to 18 seats in the Assembly from 31in the previous elections - has done an about-turn in a most cynical fashion and cobbled together an unstable government which lacks political integrity.”

Asked how the question of political integrity arose, Ms. Natarajan said: “The Bharatiya Janata Party does not have the mandate to form a government in Jharkhand.”