JDP to forge poll alliance with LJP

Jamshedpur, Dec 9 (UNI) Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP) will forge an electoral alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Jana Shakti Party (LJP) in Jharkhand and Bihar.

JDP chairman Salkhan Murmu told UNI here today that he had already shared a dias with Paswan during LJP's "Sankalp rally" in Patna on November 28. He also talked to Paswan regarding joining hands with LJP in Jharkhand, Murmu said.

He said the LJP Supremo had agreed in principle to forge an alliance with JDP in Jharkhand and Bihar.

Mr Mumu said the proposed alliance would help both JDP and LJP and could pose a challenge to Congress-JMM alliance in Jharkhand and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the tribal leaders and intellectuals from Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Chhatisgarh and Andaman held a meeting under the president of Nirmal Minz in Ranchi yesterday to choose Murmu as their national leader and rename JDP as National Tribal Party.

The meeting also appointed tribal leaders of Assam and Andaman to consolidate JDP in those states.

The tribal leaders also appealed to the legislators, MPs of Jharkhand to unite themselves and fight for tribal people of Assam to include them in the schedule tribe list.

Mr Murmu said the meeting also decided to support the proposed indefinite economic blockade from December 17 in Jharkhand, called by Joint Adivasi Action Committee (JAAC) demanding schedule tribe status for tribals of Assam.

UNI