Rift in BJP over govt formation in Jharkhand

With beleaguered Chief Minister Shibu Soren favouring continuation of the coalition government, in which BJP is the junior partner, and his son Hemant appealing to the BJP to have its partyman as chief minister, the BJP leadership in Delhi is in a dilemma. There was speculation throughout the day here over what stand the party should take.

The first indication of the BJP’s softening on stand came in the morning when a party delegation failed to meet the governor in Ranchi at 11 am. Incidentally, they had taken two appointments with the governor during the day.

Raghubar Das, state BJP president and deputy chief minister in the Soren government, justified the move, saying: “We stand by our decision to withdraw the support. We could not meet the governor as Baijnath Ram (health minister from the BJP) is in New Delhi. We will seek time from the governor when the minister comes back to Ranchi.”

It is believed that Soren, fearing revolt within his party, appealed to the BJP leadership to reconsider its decision.

Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde said in New Delhi on Thursday afternoon that its legislators and ministers would meet the governor in the evening. Soren, who needs the BJP support to remain in power, wrote a letter to BJP president Nitin Gadkari, urging him to “forget” his act of voting in favour of the ruling UPA during the cut motions.

Munde indicated that the BJP was not averse to considering a viable alternative after withdrawing support. Yashwant Sinha, former Union minister and MP from Jharkhand, talking to Deccan Herald, ruled out his (Sinha) taking over as chief minister.
Meanwhile, the Congress said on Wednesday that it was watching the situation in Jharkhand and would not make a decision in a hurry.