About 75 percent of sitting Jharkhand legislators lost the assembly elections, while just 25 percent retained their seats.
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party faced defeat in the Jharkhand assembly polls because it took people for granted. It said Union Home Minister Amit Shah felt that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act would increase the Hindu voter percentage, but labourers and tribals in Jharkhand rejected the BJP.
The Congress indicated on Friday that it might seek President's Rule in Jharkhand if the "standstill" over government formation continued there without any solution.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party set to head a new coalition government in Jharkhand with support alliance partners the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the AJSU, Chief Minister Shibu Soren claimed on Saturday that the allies would share power on a rotational basis.
In a last-ditch effort to salvage its government in Jharkhand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Wednesday extended an olive branch to Bharatiya Janata Party, which withdrew support reducing it to a minority, saying chief minister Shibu Soren was ready to resign and a new leader could be installed.
They may differ in their ideologies but thanks to the Election Commission, 13 political parties share five symbols in various states. According to the EC website, Bala Saheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena, which preaches Hindu nationalism, shares its symbol 'Bow and Arrow' with Shibu Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which focuses on regional interests.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani will skip the swearing-in ceremony of Arjun Munda as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on Saturday amidst reports that he was unhappy over the formation of the government with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Asked about the BJP-JMM formula to run the government and if the chief minister's post would be rotated, Hussain said "as of now the government will be formed under the leadership of Arjun Munda. There are no conditions to forming this government."
Over three months after it parted ways with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday again came together with Shibu Soren's party and staked claim to form a new government in Jharkhand which has been under President's Rule since June 1.
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda was on Tuesday elected the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party Legislature Party in Jharkhand as the party decided to stake claim along with allies Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and All Jharkhand Students Union to form a new government.
Bharatiya Janata Party's newly appointed national president Nitin Gadkari on Monday paid a courtesy visit to saffron ally, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray at latter's residence in Mumbai.
The Congress attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party's post-poll alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Saturday dubbing it as "the high point of unprincipled and unethical politics".
"The BJP and AJSU have agreed to support the JMM under the leadership of Guruji (Soren)," party Vice-President Hemlal Murmu told media persons hours after JMM legislature party elected Soren as its leader and authorised him to explore government formation. JMM has 18 MLAs, same as that of BJP, and AJSU has five members in the 81-member House. If BJP's ally Janata Dal-United with two MLAs also back JMM's bid to form government, its strength will go up to 43.
A local court acquitted former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren in the 1974 Kudko double murder case for lack of evidence on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old partnership ended after the ruling party refused to accede to the ally's demand for 17 of 81 seats.
Welcoming Shibu Soren's resignation, the Congress on Sunday night said the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief took the right decision by not seeking a floor test. "It is proper that Shibu Soren resigned after knowing he had no majority. It is always good to resign instead of going to the House without a majority," Leader of Opposition Rajendra Prasad Singh told PTI. "If our high command directs us to initiate government formation, we will go ahead, if not we won't," he said.
Expressing surprise over Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to withdraw support to the Shibu Soren government, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Monday said the party chief would choose his allies in the run up to the floor test but did not come clear if any deal was made with the Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Tuesday decided to share power on rotational basis for the remaining term of the Jharkhand assembly, with the saffron party to be the first to take over.
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party remained indecisive over formation of a new government in Jharkhand, its ally in the state Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Saturday night stuck to its demand for heading the government by them in rotation.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Legislative Party leader Hemant Soren on Thursday submitted his resignation letter as an MLA to his father Shibu Soren and offered his Dumka seat to the Jharkhand chief minister to contest and enter the state assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday put on hold its decision to withdraw support to Shibu Soren government in Jharkhand and appears to have made up its mind to heading a government weighing the pros and cons of having a non-tribal chief minister.
The Congress's Jharkhand unit on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'greed for power' which, it said, has led the saffron party to put on hold withdrawal of support to the Shibu Soren government in the state.Alleging that the BJP was again 'playing the game of numbers', a Congress release said "Frequent change of decisions among the BJP and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has not left Jharkhand reeling under a political crisis".
In a damage control exercise after the Bharatiya Janata Party ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supported the government in the cut motion in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, its Member of Parliament Hemant Soren claimed that it happened by "mistake" and made it clear there was no move to form a government in Jharkhand with the Congress' backing.
Amidst reports of his keenness for the Jharkhand chief minister's chair, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president Sibu Soren on Tuesday said that the situation would be 'made clear' after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returns from his impending trip to Colombo."Be it union ministership or chief ministership, everything will be decided only after the Prime Minister completes his foreign engagement," Soren, whose party provided critical support to the UPA.
Hours after the Union Cabinet decided to impose President's rule in Jharkhand, the Sibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Monday said all options are still open, indicating that the exercise to form a government is still on. "None of the United Progressive Alliance constituents -- the JMM, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal -- want President's rule in the state," JMM general secretary and minister for parliamentary affairs Suman Mahato said.
Arjun Munda will be sworn in as Jharkand's new chief minister on Saturday at the head of a Bharatiya Janata Party-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha coalition with the Governor inviting him to form a government on Thursday shortly after the Union Cabinet recommended revocation of President's rule in the state.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief and outgoing Chief Minister Shibu Soren was on Tuesday admitted to a private hospital after he complained of heaviness in the chest, the hospital sources said.Earlier in the morning, Soren was taken to the Central Coalfields Limited Hospital after he complained of uneasiness. The doctors at the CCL Hospital referred him to the Apollo Hospital.
A large section of the Congress - an ally of the coalition government in Jharkhand - initially preferred President's Rule. But Congress President Sonia Gandhi had to change her mind today as RJD chief Lalu Prasad is keen to see that the Jharkhand government continues with a new chief minister.
Many issues dog the Mahagathbandhan of the Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the most prominent of which is seat sharing.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had once dubbed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren as 'tainted', on Wednesday saw nothing wrong in making him the chief minister of Jharkhand, saying it was a strategy to thwart attempts to break up parties or continue with President's Rule in the state. Newly-appointed BJP chief Nitin Gadkari said his party would support the JMM for five years. But he evaded a query on what the BJP will do the Supreme Court rules against Soren.
Forced to give up his chair twice after brief stints as chief minister, Shibu Soren on Wednesday took oath at a 'a very auspicious time' on astrological advice, to ensure that he can serve his full term this time.The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief was scheduled to take oath as Jharkhand chief minister in the afternoon, but advanced it by three and half hours on the advice of astrologers, party sources said.
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party has managed to forge an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for government formation in Jharkhand, there is no clarity as of now on whether the Shibu Soren-led party will become part of the National Democratic Alliance.
Shibu Soren, who is all set to become the next chief minister of Jharkhand, on Monday said the new alliance comprising Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Bharatiya Janata Party and the All Jharkhand Students Union will provide a stable government in the mineral-rich state."Jharkhand needs a stable government and we are confident of providing one," the JMM chief said at a joint press conference with BJP president Nitin Gadkari.Soren said he was aware of the functioning of Gadkari.
Several leaders from the Congress and its alliance partners from across the country attended the event.
As Shibu Soren hopes for yet another innings as Jharkhand chief minister, the family of his slain ex-secretary said on Saturday that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief should not be allowed to take up the job as the appeal against his acquittal in the murder case was pending before the Supreme Court.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren is all set to become the Jharkhand chief minister with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal (United) and the All Jharkhand Students Union.
The Congress is working on stitching together a coalition government in Jharkhand minus Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren, who is not interested in discussing any deal which does not make him the chief minister of the state.
With 18 assembly seats in his kitty, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren on Thursday said the results indicated his popularity and expressed his desire to form the government in Jharkhand, which has given a fractured verdict. "The JMM is the single largest party and I should be given the chance to form the government," said Soren, who has emerged as the king-maker after the results of the state assembly polls were declared on Wednesday.
With the Congress and its allies winning 25 seats and emerging as the single largest alliance in Jharkhand, the party has begun exploring options of forming the next government in the state realising that they have to do business with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Shibu Soren who now controls the levers of power in the state having won 18 seats in the assembly elections.
Jharkhand was headed for a hung assembly on Wednesday as the Congress and its ally Jharkhand Vikas Morcha gained an edge by leading in 24 seats in the 81-member House. As the counting of votes progressed, Shibu Soren-led JMM emerged as the likely kingmaker, leading in 15 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party - Janata Dal-United combine gave the Congress tough competition by leading in 23 seats.The Congress is contesting the elections with Babulal Marandi-led JVM.
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