Three JMM legislators have issued a statement claiming the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat in 2024, hinting at a rift between the coalition partners in Jharkhand and amid efforts to stitch a common alliance of like-minded political parties to counter the BJP in the general election.

The JMM is leading a coalition government in alliance with the Congress and the RJD in the state.

The MLAs held a meeting in Chaibasa, the district headquarters of West Singhbhum, on Wednesday. They said that since the JMM has more Assembly constituencies, they would like to have a claim over the Singhbhum seat.

Singhbhum parliamentary seat has six Assembly constituencies — Chaibasa, Majhgaon, Jagannathpur, Seraikela, Chakradharpur, and Manoharpur out of which barring Jagannathpur (which is represented by Congress) all the remaining are represented by JMM MLAs.

Singhbhum is at present represented by Geeta Koda, the lone Congress MP from Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha who caused a major upset in 2019 defeating then BJP state president and sitting MP Laxman Gilua by over 70,000 votes.

The parliamentary seat assumes significance as it was the two seats (the other being Rajmahal) from Jharkhand which BJP lost in 2019. BJP political heavyweight and Union home minister Amit Shah has already held a meeting earlier this year in Chaibasa aiming to wrest back this seat in 2024.

A statement issued by Chakradharpur JMM MLA and West Singhbhum district president, Sukhram Oraon on Wednesday said: “It was unanimously decided that since we have the largest number of MLAs in the Singhbhum parliamentary seat we have a natural right to stake a claim for it. We would submit the proposal to our party Central committee for its consideration.”