Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will succeed in forming the government in the state even if the alliance fell short of a majority in the assembly.
"The trend available so far clearly reflects that we will be able to get the required number of seats to form a government. Even if we fall short by some seats, we are sure to get support from others," he told PTI.
However, he said he will not identify the parties or candidates from whom the alliance expects support. "I don't want to open that card now and this will be decided later," he said.
The BJP-JD(U) alliance surged ahead as the single largest grouping from results available so far.
In New Delhi, party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj told reporters, "We are only short by four. We are certain to form the government. Some of our rebels and some independents will support us."
Munda skirted a question on whether he or party member of Parliament Babulal Marandi would be the chief minister if the BJP alliance formed the government.
When the question was put to Swaraj, she said, "We will leave it to the MLAs to decide."
Meanwhile, the Congress also asserted that despite having failed to perform as per expectations, the alliance led by it will form the government in Jharkhand.
Party president Sonia Gandhi will decide on the chief minister, Union minister and Congress member of Parliament from Ranchi Subodh Kant Sahay said.
"The trend so far is a bit against our expectations, but with Left parties like the Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC), Forward Bloc and some others, including the RJD [Rashtriya Janata Dal] in our fold we are confident about crossing the magic figure to form the new government in the state," he told PTI in Ranchi.
Sahay said though the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was trying to remain in power they will not succeed as several independent candidates had publicly said they would not support them.
Asked why the outcome was not up to Congress' expectations, Sahay said urban votes drifted away from the party.