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| Rudy in damage-control mode over Jharkhand remark |
| BS Reporters / New Delhi/Mumbai Dec 29, 2009, 00:49 IST |
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy had egg on his face today over his earlier statement that as the BJP did not get the mandate to rule in Jharkhand it should sit in the Opposition.
“At a conference in Kolkata on December 26, an opinion was expressed that in absence of a full mandate in Jharkhand, the BJP should sit in the Opposition. This was prior to any decision taken in Jharkhand by BJP,” Rudy said here.
The Rajya Sabha MP maintained that at that juncture, the BJP Parliamentary Board in Delhi was exploring three options: staying out of government and sitting in the Opposition, supporting the government from outside, and joining the government and being part of it.
“The decision to opt any one of them was left to the central leadership visiting Jharkhand and consultation with the state leadership,” he said. Rudy, however, did not elaborate on whether he personally supported the BJP’s tie-up with the JMM or not. “The party has taken a stand and I am with the stand,” he said.
Rudy’s statement only revealed the deep divide in the BJP over the idea of a deal with the JMM, which has been an ‘unreliable’ ally of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
JMM supremo Shibu Soren became a minister in the Manmohan Singh government in May 2004 when the UPA came to power. He, however, had to quit two months later as a warrant against him in the 1975 Chirudih massacre case resurfaced. At that stage, the BJP made long speeches in Parliament about Soren’s past.
Soren was again given a berth in the central ministry in October 2004. He quit in March 2005 to become chief minister of Jharkhand for the first time but was in power for less then 10 days.
He returned to the Union Cabinet in 2006, and also became chairperson of the Jharkhand UPA when Madhu Koda became chief minister in September 2006.
However, he was forced to resign in October 2006 after he was convicted and was awarded life term for the murder of his personal secretary Shashinath Jha. The Delhi High Court acquitted him in the Jha murder case in 2007, and he was also acquitted in the Chirudih massacre case. But there is one more murder case pending against him in the Giridih district court.
Soren’s next opportunity came when the Left parties withdrew support to the UPA government, reducing it to minority and necessitating a trust vote. In the confidence motion on July 22, 2008, the JMM supported the Manmohan Singh government and soon, Soren took over as Jharkhand chief minister for the second time in August 2008.
In Mumbai, newly elected BJP president Nitin Gadkari today defended the party’s decision to support Soren to form the next government in Jharkhand, saying stability and interests of the people of that state were the only concerns.
“The decision has been taken in the larger interest of Jharkhand to provide a stable government there,” he noted. Soren today went all the way from Ranchi to Mumbai to meet Gadkari to discuss the nitty-gritty of government formation.
The JMM chief said the alliance consisting of the JMM, BJP and All Jharkhand Students Union would provide a stable government in Jharkhand.
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