Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday resigned and recommended the dissolution of the 82-member assembly, leaving the situation wide open for the governor to decide the future course of action. Earlier in the day, coalition partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, in a letter to Governor Syed Ahmed, formally withdrew its support to the 28-month-old government, pushing it into a minority.
The legislators of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, led by senior leader Shibu Soren, on Tuesday met Governor Syed Ahmad to formally withdraw support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state. Shibu Soren handed the letter of withdrawal of support to the governor after he withdrew support to the BJP-led Arjun Munda government on Monday evening, reducing it to minority, after talks between the two sides fail to reach an agreement.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday downplayed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren's threat to withdraw support to the Arjun Munda-led coalition government in Jharkhand, saying it is the democratic process that matters and no compromise will be made with the principles and promises.
Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
The Congress on Friday inked an agreement with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to form a coalition government in Jharkhand and contest the next Lok Sabha election in alliance with the tribal party. Under the agreement, while the JMM will have its chief minister in the state, the Congress will secure a lion's share of the 14 Lok Sabha seats. While the Congress will contest on 10 seats, the JMM will get four seats.
The Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at the residences of five Members of Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand after registering a case into the alleged cash-for-vote scam during 2010 Rajya Sabha elections.
The dispute over imposition of President's Rule and holding a mid-term elections in Jharkhand has now been shifted from Ranchi Raj Bhavan to New Delhi after the state governor Syed Ahmed sent his final report to the Union home ministry following talks with the representatives of all political parties after withdrawal of support to Arjun Munda led NDA government by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
"Only 38 MLAs (in the 82-member House) favour dissolution of the House while others favour formation of government. So allow us some more time as we are holding talks with other parties," sources quoted Soren as having told the governor.
Amid the ongoing political crisis in Jharkhand and efforts from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to form a new coalition government with the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said that election is the only way to solve the problem in Jharkhand.
Jharkhand's caretaker Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Friday doubted the credential of his former ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Christmas Day list that pulled down the Bharatiya Janata Party government on January 8 and said it could have been an excuse to create instability.
The Jharkhand unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday night decided to consult its national leadership for the next course of action following the decision of by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to withdraw support to Arjun Munda-led govenment in the state pushing it to a minority.
With the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha announcing its decision to withdraw support to Arjun Munda-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Jharkhand, the prospect of a ninth government in 12 years is looming large over the state created on November 15, 2000.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Thursday said he had in writing rejected major ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's claim that there was a purported power sharing deal between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the JMM.
A day before United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee's Jharkhand visit, the Congress on Wednesday said chances of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha President Shibu Soren supporting him are positive, though he has chosen to defer the date of announcement of his choice for the July 19 election.
P Chidambaram and Rajeev Shukla of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party's Sumitra Valmiki and Kavita Patidar, former Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Misa Bharti and Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal were among the 41 winners declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha.
The 84-year-old priest-activist Stan Swamy, arrested under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Elgar Parishad case, died at a Mumbai hospital Monday in the middle of his fight for bail on health grounds.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday conducted raids at the premises of 15 Jharkhand members of Legislative Assembly as part of its investigation into the allegations of horse-trading that led to countermanding of the March 30 Rajya Sabha polls.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Jharkhand faced embarrassment on Thursday when their candidate S S Ahluwalia lost the Rajya Sabha elections, which was held afresh after being countermanded earlier as the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bagged the two seats.
A month after the Election Commission countermanded the polls; elections for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand began today even as last minute parleys were on, with ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha wooing its junior ally All Jharkhand Students' Union party to vote for its candidate Sanjeev Kumar.
In a joint letter to the prime minister, the opposition leaders, including some chief ministers, have also demanded providing foodgrains to the needy, and giving Rs 6,000 per month to the unemployed.
Most exit polls telecast by news channels soon after voting ended for the fifth and final phase of the Jharkhand elections on Friday indicated a hung assembly. Results for the elections to the 81-member state assembly will be announced on December 23.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a high-profile name from Jharkhand, went to the polling station to cast his franchise in the 3rd of the five-phased Assembly elections.
After losing the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand by three votes, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader SS Ahluwalia hinted that horse-trading led to his defeat.
The money play in Jharkhand in the Rajya Sabha elections appears to be destabilising the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, with its ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha even threatening to pull it down if its candidate loses.
The re-nomination of Ahluwalia, Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand whose term expires on April 2, was never in doubt. The BJP leadership, however, made it clear to him on Monday that alliance partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren was unwilling to share the Rajya Sabha seat.
Faced with pressures from its allies the Janata Dal-United and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Bharatiya Janata Party has relented and given up its demand of fielding its full share of candidates for Rajya Sabha from Bihar and Jharkhand, and also denied a ticket to its Deputy Leader in the Upper House S S Ahluwalia for another term.
Treading cautiously on the issue of government formation in Jharkhand, Congress said on Thursday that it was closely watching the situation and ruled out the possibility of offering chief ministership to anyone in the state."We will not offer chief ministership to anyone in Jharkhand," Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay told media-persons outside Parliament.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were on Thursday locked in a verbal duel after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren sought to remind his ally BJP of the "agreement" that the two ruling parties had on sharing power on "rotation" in Jharkhand during government formation in September last year.
Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jharkhand accused the Centre of meting out "step-motherly" treatment to them, and urged the Union government to provide them free vaccine doses to vaccinate all adults.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party workers shout slogans and wave banners during the statewide bandh called by the party on Monday.
The Congress said it would look into the proposal for government formation in Jharkhand if the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and other secular parties came up with the issue, following the Bharatiya Janata Party's withdrawal of support to the Shibu Soren government.
Maoists on Tuesday night blew up the ancestral house of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Kameshwar Baitha in Palamau district.
Ending a fortnight-long stalemate, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and All Jharkhand Students Union on Saturday announced support to a Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Jharkhand for the remaining four-and-a-half year tenure of the state assembly. The decision was arrived at a meeting attended by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, senior party leader Ananth Kumar, Jharkhand Deputy Chief Minister Raghubar Das, JMM legislature party leader Hemant Soren.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led government in Jharkhand was reduced to a minority on Wednesday after the BJP withdrew its support, as it was reportedly upset with Soren for voting with the UPA government on the cut motion.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday withdrew support to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led government in Jharkhand, where the two parties ran a coalition government, after Chief Minister Shibu Soren shocked the BJP by voting for the United Progressive Alliance in Parliament on Tuesday.Earlier, Soren's son Hemant had claimed that his father voted for the UPA by mistake."The voting in favour of the UPA by Soren is an act of betrayal," said BJP leaders.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrawing support to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led government in Jharkhand, the Congress on Wednesday dropped enough hints to indicate that it is not averse to forming an alternative government in the tribal stateSpeaking on whether the party sticks to its earlier stand -- that it will not form an alliance government in the state with Shibu Soren as the chief minister -- a Congress leader said, "In politics, there is no last word."
Arjun Munda was on Saturday sworn in as the Jharkhand chief minister, heading a coalition government of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ceremony was skipped by top BJP leaders, including L K Advani, amidst reports of differences within the party over forming a government again with its erstwhile partner.All Jharkhand Students Union chief Sudesh Mahto and JMM leader Hemant Soren, son of former chief minister Shibu Soren.
Jaya said she is in Bengal to campaign for the Trinamool Congress as per instructions of her party president Akhilesh Yadav, who has extended support to Mamata Banerjee in the polls.
All five RJD members abstained from voting, while Enos Ekka of Jharkhand Party, Independent Harinarayan Rai, Congress' Gopal Nath Sahadeo and Arup Chatterjee of the Marxist Coordination Committee were absent.
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