By IANS,
Ranchi : Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, whose government was reduced to a minority Monday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formally withdrew support, has been asked by Governor M.O.H. Farook to prove its majority by May 31.
Soren went to meet the governor around 5.30 p.m. after he was summoned following withdrawal of support by the BJP.
Soren held a closed meeting with the governor for 15 minutes and sought a week’s time, to which the governor agreed.
“A secular government will be formed in Jharkhand,” JMM legislator and senior party leader Teklal Mahto told reporters after meeting the governor.
Earlier, the BJP withdrew support to the five-month-old Shibu Soren-led government, reducing it to a minority and plunging the state into political uncertainty again.
“We have withdrawn support to the Shibu Soren government as political uncertainty was lingering in the state for a long period of time,” state BJP president Raghubar Das told reporters.
BJP leaders, including Das, party national general secretary Arjun Munda and others met Governor Farook Monday noon and handed over the letter of withdrawal of support. The governor summoned Soren to the Raj Bhavan in the evening to discuss the political developments.
The BJP and the JMM have a strength of 18 each in the 81-member assembly. Of the other coalition partners, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has five members and the Janata Dal-United two.
Das accused the Congress party of being behind the political uncertainty in Jharkhand.
“The Congress is playing dirty politics in Jharkhand… it has been trying to destabilise the government since its formation. The Congress took away some JMM legislators to Kolkata and New Delhi to destabilise the government,” he said.
In New Delhi, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said: “We tried effectively to ensure and lead a non-Congress government in Jharkhand, but we did not succeed, so we decided enough is enough. We can’t try any further.”
“This decision was taken last evening (Sunday) after consulting and discussing with each member of the parliamentary board. It was a unanimous decision,” said Jaitley, who is leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha. The JMM, however, made a last-ditch effort to prevent the BJP from withdrawing support.
According to informed sources, Shibu Soren’s son Hemant Soren met BJP national general secretary Arjun Munda in Ranchi and tried to persuade him to prevent the party from withdrawing support.
Senior JMM leader Hemlal Murmu termed the withdrawal of support as “unfortunate”.
Jharkhand has been facing a political crisis since April 27 when Soren voted against the BJP’s cut motions in the Lok Sabha last month. This led the BJP, a junior partner in the Jharkhand coalition, to announce withdrawal of support from the JMM on April 28. On April 30, BJP put its withdrawal decision on hold.
On May 8, JMM announced that it would support the BJP. Ten days later, on May 18, BJP agreed to a rotation of power with Soren. On May 20, however, Soren refused to quit and announced that talks were on with both the BJP and the Congress for formation of an alternative government in Jharkhand.