Newsmaker: The rise and fall of former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda

Corruption in the mining scam is said to amount to upwards of Rs 4,000 crore

Election to six state Assemblies were held in 2005, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA’s) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had spent just a year in office. Just before the results began coming in, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) voiced an interesting thought. It was suggested that while the PM was concerned about the outcome in Bihar, Haryana and other states, his primary worry was over a state that seemed the least important at the time. Officials confided it was Jharkhand  — a state sitting on a volcano of Left-wing extremism, pluralistic politics and enormous riches on account of natural resources.