I'm not in race for CM's post: Soren

Soren, whose JMM has 17 MLAs in the J'khand House, denies that he is vying for CM's post, reports Vinod Sharma.

Tantalisingly close to a second shot at power in Jharkhand, Coal Minister Minister Shibu Soren is loath to present himself as a chief ministerial aspirant while insisting that the BJP-led government in the state was gasping for breath and the UPA's chances of giving an alternative were real.

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Speaking to HT in New Delhi on Tuesday, Soren, whose JMM has 17 MLAs in the state assembly, discounted reports that he has threatened to quit the UPA if denied the CM's office he had failed to retain in 2005. When asked whether he would shift to Ranchi if the ruling coalition at the Centre was able to muster a majority in the 82-member House, he replied, "The leadership question will be decided in consultation with UPA constituents. The final decision has to be of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi."

The JMM president has recently met the three Independent MLAs who have rebelled against Chief Minister Arjun Munda despite being ministers in his government. He is understood to have told them that he wasn't as much interested in the CM's office as in ridding the state of the regime that was exploiting Jharkhand's rich mineral resources in the name of development. "What the poor people have got in return," he alleged, "is dislocation and denial of basic rights…."

Soren said he has not discussed the Jharkhand developments with Sonia but has been in touch with Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose RJD has seven legislators in the state. In his view, the Congress, with 9 MLAs, will take a position once the Munda government falls under its own weight.

"That time, in fact, has arrived," Soren predicted. "No amount of allurement or threats will work for the BJP-NDA. Their game is up," he remarked.