Soren stakes claim to form Jharkhand government

By IANS,

Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren Saturday staked claim to form the government in Jharkhand with support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). The Janata Dal-United also said it would support him.


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Soren, accompanied by his son Hemant, AJSU president Sudesh Mahto, BJP state chief Raghubar Das, former BJP president Rajnath Singh and former chief minister Arjun Munda, met Governor K. Sankaranarayanan and handed a list of 42 legislators supporting him in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly.

The list included 18 legislators each of the JMM and the BJP, five of the AJSU and one independent.

Later Saturday evening, Janata Dal-United legislator Sudha Choudhary met the governor and gave her party’s letter of support. This took the number of legislators supporting Soren to 44.

After handing over of the letter of support to the governor, Munda said: “We have supported JMM to provide a stable government in the state.”

Mahto said the AJSU was supporting JMM for “a stable and corruption free government” in Jharkhand, while Hemant Soren said: “We came together in the interest of the people of the state to provide a stable government”.

Though no formal announcement has been made about the coalition, sources in the JMM said the formula for the next government has been finalised and there will be two deputy chief ministers – one each from the BJP and the AJSU.

Raghubar Das of the BJP and Sudesh Mahto of AJSU would be made deputy chief ministers, the sources added.

As far as cabinet berths are concerned, the JMM and BJP could get four each and the AJSU two, while the JD-U may get one berth. Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister. The assembly speaker’s post would go to the BJP, the sources added.

Saturday witnessed hectic political developments. Rajnath Singh, who arrived here Friday night to monitor developments, met the AJSU president and later Shibu Soren arrived at his hotel to meet him. From there, a 21-member delegation of the JMM, BJP and AJSU directly went to the Raj Bhavan where they handed over the letter of support to Shibu Soren to the governor.

Earlier, a meeting of the newly-elected BJP legislators had passed a resolution supporting the JMM to form the government. They also elected Raghubar Das as the leader of the legislative party.

The JMM had Friday announced it would form the next government with the BJP, spurning the last-ditch efforts of the Congress to woo it. Union Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahay met Soren Friday night to dissuade him from joining hands with BJP, while Congress leaders also reportedly met the AJSU president. However, the talks foundered as Shibu Soren refused to accept anything less than the chief minister’s post.

The five-phase assembly poll result Dec 23 threw up a fractured mandate with the Congress and its ally, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) of former chief minister Babulal Marandi winning 25 seats, while the JMM and the BJP won 18 each.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) have five seats each, while the JD-U has two. The remaining eight seats were won by small parties and independents.

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