Political uncertainty deepened in Jharkhand on Tuesday, with Chief Minister Arjun Munda submitting his resignation to Governor Syed Ahmed. On Monday, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) announced the withdrawal of its support to the BJP-led government.
Mr. Munda recommended that the Governor dissolve the Assembly to facilitate fresh elections. “I have run the government with stability for the last two years. Dissolution of the House and seeking a fresh mandate are the alternative at present,” he told journalists before meeting the Governor at 11.45 a.m.
He has been asked by the Governor to continue as caretaker chief minister.
Mr. Munda said the decision was taken as no national party came forward to provide an alternative government after the JMM decided to pull out of the government, which was formed in September 2010.
Gopal Krishna Patar of the Janata Dal (United), Chandraprakash Choudhary of the All-Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) and several BJP MLAs accompanied Mr. Munda to the Raj Bhavan.
“The Cabinet met at 9 a.m. Out of the 12 Ministers, seven were present. It was decided to dissolve the House and we sought an appointment with the Governor at the earliest. We do not want a situation in which a government, formed through jod-tod [horse-trading] involving MLAs indicted for corruption, comes to power,” BJP State president Dineshchand Goswami said.
He dismissed the JMM’s contention that the government was reduced to minority once the party withdrew support and the Cabinet’s recommendation for dissolution of the Assembly did not stand.
“Five Ministers belonging to the JMM were not present at the Cabinet meeting, but they had not submitted their resignation. The Governor must go by the Cabinet decision,” he said. JMM leaders met the Governor an hour before Mr. Munda reached the Raj Bhavan.
Both the JMM and the BJP have 18 seats each in the 81-member Assembly. The Congress has 13 seats, while the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) has 11. The JMM is expected to approach the Congress to stitch together an alliance, taking in five MLAs of the RJD and seven Independents.
On Tuesday, Congress leaders reiterated their willingness to open talks with the JMM. “We are open to discussing this with the JMM. We will consider any formal proposal that JMM leaders make,” Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradeep Balmuchu said in the afternoon, on his return from Delhi.
“The party has not yet taken a decision on this. Nor have we approached the Congress to negotiate an agreement yet,” JMM core committee member Binod Pandey said.
JVM(P) leader Babulal Marandi favoured fresh elections. “The Congress and the BJP are both ruining Jharkhand. We will not ally ourselves with either. We are not in favour of transactions-based governments. Let people decide through fresh elections,” said the former Chief Minister.
Keywords: Jharkhand Cabinet, BJP-JMM alliance, Arjun Munda, Hemant Soren, Shibu Soren
This is the result of dividing in to smaller states. Every two years, elections are being held and good governance can not be implemented in such situation. Also Long term schemes can not be implemented for improvement properly. So people should select better party and give clear mandate to one party to avoid such situation. Central Government should learn lesson and such dividing other states should be avoided.
When Mamata withdrew support to UPA, it was crystal clear that the Govt was in a minority.
Will the congress also say that the decisions/recommendations of the minority UPA Govt also not binding on the president or the people of this country?
Yes i agree with u because no political parties in this state has shown any interest for the well being of the public, whichever came to power has looted the exchequer of the state. since the formation of this state, we have seen unstable government and power sharing not for the sake of people of this state but for their own interest. There were three state formed in 2002 but despite the mineral reach state, its development is not much as Chhattisgarh and Uttrakhand if we see the overall aspects of governance.
BJP is suddenly speaking of Principles - Do not know where these principles were frozen during the last 2 years they ran the government with JMM support. With equal number of MLA's JMM is certainly right in asking for share in power-Looks like BJP has some other plans and it will be exposed very soon.
Well its really very ridiculous that our state is facing this type of situation every time...Each and everyone is hungry for the Chief Minister's Seat..Weather its Hemant Soren or its Arjun Munda...And nothing can be done until and unless full support party does not come...the result will be (Election)...The prices of each and every thing will be raised and it does not matter on them because its the people who have to bear this... Shame on this type of Government... They are not their for the welfare of the people,they are their for their own welfare...Its surprising that in 12 years Jharkhand has seen 9 Chief Minister's...How many more...????
This is a politically immature decision on the part of BJP. Even if there was no prior deal with JMM for power-sharing by rotation, if JMM were demanding it now - as they have equal number of MLAs - their demand should not have been rejected outright until a better option than fresh election was available. The state cannot have election every two years. BJP should have handed over the CM-ship to JMM and handled the ministries with it efficiently to win voters for next elections. Looks like Jharkhand will continue having unstable Govts until most of the political leaders become super rich. How? Anybody's guess.
last time, JDs refused to give BJP its share of power tenure in karnataka. JDs was wiped out. this time, BJP did the same. watch out.. BJP in jharkhand will face the same fate as JDs in karnataka.....
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