BJP defends arrangement with JMM

JMM supremo Shibu Soren along with BJP leaders (from right) Yashwant Sinha, Arjun Munda, Raghubar Das and All-Jharkhand Students' Union president Sudesh Mehto (left) meets Jharkhand Governor K. Sankaranarayanan (third from left)on Saturday to stake claim to form the government. Photo: Manob Chowdhury

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struck a power-sharing equation with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to form the government in Jharkhand, the party spokesperson and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday defended the party’s decision.

“Given the fractured mandate in Jharkhand, we have gone for stability and welfare of the people,” Mr. Prasad said. “This was the only way out in the interest of the State. Moreover, Shibu Soren has been cleared by the Delhi High Court in a case and the Dumka court in other cases.”

He said the coming together of the BJP-JMM and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) was the only way out to respect people’s verdict. Otherwise the State would have entered into yet another period of instability and uncertainty. The alliance was stitched together with the efforts of the party’s collective leadership, led by the new party president Nitin Gadkari. He said the coalition would have 43 MLAs in an 81-seat Assembly.

Mr. Prasad said the finer details were being worked out by the former party president, Rajnath Singh, and senior leaders Ananth Kumar and Yashwant Sinha.