Jharkhand BJP MLA joins Congress ahead of polls

Former BJP MLA from Jharkhand's Barhi constituency, Uma Shankar Akela, on Sunday joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls in the state.

Akela joined the Congress in New Delhi in the presence of AICC in-charge RPN Singh and Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Rameshwar Oraon, Hazaribag district Congress leader Devraj Kushwaha said.

Kushwaha claimed that Akela joined the Congress after not being given a BJP ticket from Barhi Assembly seat in the upcoming elections in the state.

Akela had won the Barhi seat in the 2009 Assembly elections, but lost in the 2014 polls to Manoj Yadav of the Congress.

Yadav has recently joined the BJP and got a ticket from the seat.

Akela is hoping to contest the elections from Barhi seat on a Congress ticket, party sources said.

Polling will be held in Barhi seat on December 12.

The five-phase polling to 81 seats in the state Assembly will begin on November 30 and end on December 20.

Counting of the votes will take place on December 23.

Meanwhile, NDA's ally AJSU Party is scheduled to meet the BJP leadership on Sunday night to discuss seat-sharing, a party leader said.

When asked about the number of seats AJSU Party will demand from the BJP, party president Sudesh Mahto told PTI that the details will be disclosed following the meeting.

Mahto, a former deputy chief minister, said his party will announce its manifesto on November 14.

Earlier in the day, the BJP announced its first list of 52 candidates for the Assembly polls in the state.