Efforts to form Jharkhand govt gather momentum

Jharkhand Governor K Sankaranarayanan today asked JMM chief Shibu Soren to produce a list of MLAs supporting him as BJP gave enough indications of backing his claim to form a government.

The governor has given time to former chief minister Soren and his son Hemant (JMM), Raghuvar Das, Arjun Munda and Yashwant Sinha (BJP) and Sudesh Mahto (AJSU) at 3 PM, Raj Bhawan sources said.

Meanwhile, BJP President Nitin Gadkari said in Mumbai that his party would come to power in Jharkhand, giving clear indications that a coalition was in the making.
 
"I just got a call from Rajnath Singh that we would be forming the Government in Jharkhand," he told party activists.
 
"Now we are ruling in eight states and Jharkhand will be the next," Gadkari said.
 
A meeting of the newly-elected BJP MLAs here chose Das as their legislature party leader.
 
After the meeting, BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar rushed to meet senior party leader Rajnath Singh, who has been deputed by the party president to ensure the party's strategy of cobbling together a coalition government with JMM.
 
JMM Vice-President Hemlal Murmu yesterday claimed that the BJP and AJSU have agreed to support Soren.
 
In the 81-member Assembly, JMM and BJP have 18 MLAs each, while JD(U), an ally of BJP, has 2 MLAs and All Jharkhand Students Union five - adding to 43.

Congress was also exploring options of forming a government in the state, where the assembly elections threw up a hung house and holding talks with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).
 
"We are approaching AJSU president Sudesh Mahato for support," JPCC president Pradip Kumar Balmuchu told reporters. Congress secured 14 seats and its ally JVM(P) got 11.