Amar Bauri appointed leader of BJP Legislative Party in Jharkhand

Ranchi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Chandankyari MLA Amar Kumar Bauri as the leader of the BJP legislative party in the Jharkhand Assembly.

State BJP President and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi was on February 24, 2020, unanimously elected as leader of the BJP Legislative Party but was not accorded LoP status by the Speaker Rabindranath Mahto due to an anti-defection petition against him pending at the Speaker's court. Mahto had ended hearings in the case on August 30 and reserved his order.

"BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda had appointed me as observer for the selection for the post of leader of Jharkhand State BJP Legislative Party... We submitted our report to the him. After consideration he has given his consent for making MLA Amar Kumar Bauri the leader of the Legislative Party and MLA Jai Prakash Patel as Whip," Union Minister Ashiwini Kumar Choubey wrote to Marandi on Sunday.

Choubey, earlier as an observer had met party leaders and workers in July for deciding on the issue of the new leader of the BJP in the Jharkhand Assembly.

"I went to the state BJP office in Ranchi and held a meeting with MLAs and I also took the opinion of each one separately," Choubey mentioned.

Marandi in July was appointed the Jharkhand BJP President replacing Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash.

Earlier the Jharkhand government had told the high court that Marandi cannot be made the leader of the opposition in the assembly as a defection case against him is yet to be cleared.

Appearing for the state government, advocate Kapil Sibal had submitted that Marandi had contested the 2019 assembly election as a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate, and after winning, merged his party with the BJP.

Marandi, also a former Union minister, had on February 17, 2020, merged his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) with the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Ranchi. He was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP Legislative Party on February 24 of the same year.

Speaker Rabindranath Mahto had then initiated proceedings against him under the anti-defection law suo motu. He completed the hearing in August 2022 and reserved the judgment.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling UPA has 47 MLAs -- JMM 29, Congress 17 and RJD 1. The BJP has 26 members and AJSU Party three. The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents.