Jharkhand govt in jeopardy as BJP pulls out

Chief Minister Shibu Soren asked to prove majority by May 31.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today withdrew support to the five-month-old Shibu Soren-led government in Jharkhand, reducing it to a minority, after the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief minister refused to resign as agreed under a power-sharing deal.

Soren, however, has been asked by Governor M O H Farook to prove its majority in the Assembly within one week.

Deputy Chief Minister and state BJP president Raghubar Das handed submitted a letter to the governor, withdrawing support to the government.

In the 82-member Assembly, the Soren government now has support of 25 MLAs, including 18 of its own, five of the AJSU and two others. The BJP has 18 members. The JD(U), which has two MLAs, also decided to follow suit and withdraw support to the government.

Political observers said Jharkhand was now in the midst of political crisis since Soren being a Lok Sabha MP voted against the BJP’s cut motions in the lower house of Parliament.

Soren’s vote against the cut motions soured his ties with the BJP. BJP’s central leadership had taken a serious view against Soren’s role in the cut motions and decided to withdraw its support to the coalition government in the state.

Soren had been the chief minister for 11 days from March 2, 2005 to March 12, 2005 and August 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009 with the support of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

The JMM patriarch was elected to the Lok Sabha from Santal Parganas but could not win by-election of the Jharkhand Assembly and resigned as the chief minister following a directive from the All India Congress Committee.

The developments led to the imposition of President’s Rule in Jharkhand that continued from January 19, 2009 to December 29, 2009, keeping the state Assembly in abeyance.

Retaining his Lok Sabha seat, Soren formed JMM, BJP, AJSU, JD (U) coalition government in Jharkhand, severing his relation with the Congress party. He won the trust motion on January 7 this year by 19 votes in the Assembly and became the chief minister.