He told PTI that the former party general secretary Sudhir Mahato and central secretary Prabhakar Tirkey, who had joined hands with JMM (Mardi) to float a new Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (AJMM) at Jamshedpur on Wednesday, had already been expelled from JMM-S.

Mahato, he said, was expelled by the JMM (S) central executive on December 13 and Tirkey on Tuesday.

``How can this be called a split in JMM-S when those who floated the AJMM had already been chucked out of the party for anti-party activities? I am surprised how the formation of the AJMM by expelled JMM-S leaders was described by the media as a split in JMM-S'', he said.

A ``large number'' of JMM (Mardi) leaders are in touch with JMM-S president Shibu Soren and expressed willingness to join the latter, he claimed, adding a substantial number of JMM-Mleaders and workers would join his party at Dhanbad on February 4.

Mandal claimed that the floating of AJMM had made no difference to the JMM-S and Soren is still looked upon by people of tribal Bihar as one of the pillars of the Jharkhand statehood struggle.

``It is well nigh impossible for anyone in the region to oust him (Soren) from the centrestage of Jharkhand politics,'' he claimed, alleging that Mahato was playing into the hands of communal forces who were out to give the impression that the JMM-S was a divided house.

``The communal forces by projecting a wrong picture of JMM-S are aiming at grabbing the seat of power after the creation of a separate Vananchal/Jharkhand State,'' he said.

He also accused Tirkey of acting at the behest of Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav and said by raising a banner of revolt against the JMM-S leadership and then becoming part of a new party he (Tirkey) was trying to please the former Bihar chief minister whose anti-Jharkhand stance iswell-known.

Tirkey, he alleged, had his eyes on the post of chairman of the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council.