What's cooking in Jharkhand? J P Nadda's sudden visit to state fuels JMM-BJP tie-up buzz

New Delhi: Even as speculations mount that Jharkhand Mukti Morcha might tie up with the BJP, party president JP Nadda’s sudden two-day visit to the state has raised eyebrows.

Nadda has gone there for a government programme, as party leaders insisted that only organisational meetings are part of the agenda during his visit. On Thursday, party’s chief spokesperson Anil Baluni said that during Nadda’s two-day meet, Nadda will hold a meeting of the Jharkhand Pradesh BJP core committee at the state guest house in Deoghar on Friday evening.

Apart from the core committee meeting, Nadda will participate in other programmes in the district, Baluni said. “The next day, on Saturday, the BJP national president will offer prayers at the famous Baba Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar,” Baluni added.

Earlier this week, Jharkhand CM and JMM leader Hemant Soren made a sudden visit to Delhi leading to speculations that the I.N.D.I.A. constituent might switch over to the other side. There are also unconfirmed reports that Soren and his wife, MLA Kalpana Soren, are in talks with the BJP leadership to switch to the NDA and that a new government is set to be formed.

The basis of the speculation is that several JMM leaders were unhappy with the seat distribution with Congress. There is also the speculation that some Congress MLAs are considering joining the new government.

The JMM has also been unhappy that seat sharing talks in Bihar, where they wanted to contest in the tribal areas, remained inconclusive.

In the 81-seat assembly, the Congress has 16 MLAs, and they support the JMM which has 34 seats. The majority number is 41 seats. RJD is also a constituent in the government with 4 seats, as well as the CPI-ML(L) with 2 MLA. The BJP has 21 MLAs, and in the NDA, LJP and JDU have one legislator each.