BJP ‘surprises’ JMM
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislature party leader Hemant Soren on Monday expressed surprise at the BJP’s withdrawal of support to the state government.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislature party leader Hemant Soren on Monday expressed surprise at the BJP’s withdrawal of support to the state government.
“According to the agreement reached between the two parties (JMM and BJP) on May 18, the process of transfer of power was to begin from May 25. I don’t know why the BJP acted in haste,” he said.
The May 18 deal stipulated that the two parties would share chief ministership for the remaining term of the assembly, till December 2014.
Soren was addressing the media after the legislature party meeting, which authorised party president and Chief Minister Sibu Soren to take follow-up action after the BJP withdrew its support.
He said the JMM wanted neither President’s Rule, nor election. He, however, made it clear that the party was not afraid of facing the electorate.
“The JMM is the largest party in Jharkhand and is not running away from elections,” he said. Soren was confident the government would win the vote of confidence in the assembly.
Meanwhile, the Congress is monitoring the developments in Jharkhand following the BJP’s withdrawal of support.
“We are putting our minds together to save Jharkhand from collapse,” said K. Keshav Rao, who is in charge of the Congress’s Jharkhand affairs.
The Congress, which has 14 legislators in the 82-member Jharkhand assembly, maintained that the stability factor would be crucial in any government formation exercise.
It has summoned state leaders for consultations and would wait for two more days before taking any decision on the issue.
Congress managers did not rule out the possibility of a split in the JMM, stating that six out of the 18 JMM MLAs were in touch with the party.