Ranchi, Dec 23 - The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were Wednesday morning vying for the support of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which emerged the key to government formation following the messy, fractured electoral verdict that gave no clear leads to any political grouping.

Latest results and trends indicated that the Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) combine and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led alliance will get 22 to 26 seats and JMM will be close behind with 16 to 19 seats in the 81-member assembly.

"It is high time that secular forces unite," said union Food Processing Minister and Congress MP Subodh Kant Sahay.

K. Keshav Rao of the Congress, who is in charge of the party's affairs in Jharkhand, also said he would be talking to Soren.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance admitted it would not be able to form the government on its own and said candidly that "no one is untouchable".

"No one is an untouchable for us. We are ready for an alliance government with the support of other parties," state BJP president Raghubar Das told IANS.

Asked about seeking or lending support to the JMM, he said: "We are open for an alliance. What would be the form of alliance with any party would be decided after the final results."

The BJP had contested for 67 seats and partner Janata Dal-United (JD-U) 14. While the BJP won or was leading in 22 seats, the JD-U was ahead only in two. This prompted BJP leaders to blame the JD-U for poor performance.

The Congress and the JVM-P contested for 61 and 20 seats respectively and went for a friendly fight in five constutuencies. The Congress is leading or won 16 seats, seven more than in 2005 poll, and JVM-P nine seats.

The RJD, which is anxious to play a key role in government formation, is ahead in nine seats, two more than it had in the 2005 assembly poll.

Sitting pretty is the JMM, which has emerged pivotal to government formation in the state that has been under president's rule for almost a year.

But the JMM has already put a rider for supporting any political alliance.

"We will support only those who will favour Shibu Soren (the JMM chief) as the new chief minister," JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya told IANS. (IANS)