Ranchi, March 27 (ANI): Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren performed puja on the occasion of Ram Navami in Ranchi on Friday. (ANI photo)

Ranchi: JMM, which is entering the Northeast in the Assam assembly elections as part of its expansion plans, will intensify its campaign in that state from Saturday. CM of Jharkhand Hemant SorenHis wife and Gandey MLA Kalpana is among the star campaigners of JMM.The party, which is running a coalition government in Jharkhand with Congress and RJD, had announced candidates for 21 of the 126 constituencies in Assam. However, the party will be able to contest only on 18 seats as nominations of three candidates were rejected during the scrutiny process.Ahead of the April 9 polling, several JMM members, including Jharkhand MLAs, MPs and ministers, have started reaching Assam.On Friday, Transport Minister and Chaibasa MLA Deepak Birua reached Dibrugarh, while his counterpart, Chamra Linda, who is the Bishnupur MLA, is already camping with party workers for more than a week. Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji reached Dibrugarh on Thursday night.Aunt told times of India “Party workers are gradually reaching Assam on the basis of various mandates given to them by the leadership, but we will formally intensify our campaign from Friday,” he said over phone.Party sources said that CM Hemant and his wife Kalpana are going to hold several rallies near Guwahati on Saturday. However, the party has not officially announced its programme. “Yes, the CM will start campaigning from Friday and hold several rallies, but the party will officially notify the schedule soon,” a source said.The party’s focus is on seats in the Upper Assam region, home to tea gardens where a large number of tribals live and work. Before the formal announcement of the elections, Hemant had addressed two rallies in Assam, indicating JMM’s intention to contest seats in that state. After the failure of seat sharing talks with its ally Congress, JMM changed its stand and went ahead and announced candidates for 21 seats.“It is unfortunate, but due to delay in seat-sharing talks, all JMM nominations were filed on the last day. As a result, three candidates made some mistakes in their nomination forms due to which their nominations were rejected during scrutiny,” a source said.