BJP, JMM fail to break Jharkhand deadlock

In a meeting held at BJP President Nitin Gadkari’s house here, the leaders of alliance partners discussed the issue at length, but they failed to find out the solutions. However it was decided to hold one more round of talks on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by Gadkari, former BJP president Rajnath Singh, party General Secretary Ananth Kumar, BJP leader Raghubar Das, Janata Dal (U) Jharkhand president Jaleshwar Mahato, Soren’s son and Jharkhand Deputy Chief Minister Hemant Soren and All Jharkhand Students Union chief Sudesh Mahato.

Emerging from the meeting, Ananth Kumar told newsmen that the meeting was positive and added that discussions would continue.

“Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh met all allies from Jharkhand. We discussed the letter written by Hemant Soren. Talks have been positive and will continue. We discussed how our alliance has been running the government in Jharkhand and how we have to keep Congress away,” said Kumar. Sources said that JMM wants Shibu Soren to remain chief minister till June 30. Soren has to win a seat in the state Assembly by then, if he has to remain the chief minister of the state.

Saturday’s meeting was convened after a section of JMM leaders expressed willingness to let the BJP choose a Chief Minister. It is learnt that the JMM was a divided house on the issue, as a section of leaders wanted to join hands with the Congress to form the government while another section wanted to remain with BJP.

JMM legislator  Teklal Mahto has reportedly sent feelers to the Congress, seeking its support to form a new government in the state. But it seems the Congress was not keen to join hands with the JMM. A senior Congress leader who did not want to be identified said “the party is closely watching the developments in the state”.

The BJP had announced withdrawal of its support to the JMM-led government in Jharkhand after Shibu Soren voted against the Opposition’s cut motion in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. However, it put its decision on hold after Hemant wrote a letter to Gadkari expressing support to a BJP-led government in the state.
DH News Service