Parliament approves Presidents' rule in Jharkhand

Parliament today approved proclamation of President's rule in Jharkhand where former Chief Minister Arjun Munda had resigned after his government was reduced to a minority in January.
The resolution for proclamation of President's rule, moved by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha today. Rajya Sabha has already passed the resolution on February 26.
Jharkhand was brought under President's Rule for the third time since its formation 12 years ago on January 18 after JMM withdrew support from the BJP-led government there.
Rejecting the charges that President's rule was imposed so that Congress could directly rule the state, Shinde said, "We are not happy to continue President's rule for long. There should be no doubt that we want to run the government there."

"When President's rule was imposed, three months after JMM and BJP formed the government, we (Centre) did not create any hassle. Congress said we don't want to form the government," the Minister said.
Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said, "We ... Are facing so many obstacles in running coalition government (at the Centre). You should have also dealt with that because running coalition government is an art".
Earlier, participating in the discussion on the resolution, BJP member Ravindra Kumar Pandey demanded fresh elections.