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.
The Jharkhand high court on Thursday asked Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren to surrender before the sub- divisional judicial magistrate in Jamtara before August 2.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
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.
The Jharkhand government has ordered a probe by the Anti-corruption Bureau into the alleged amassing of disproportionate assets by former ministers in the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state.
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.
'If you want to win you need to perform.' 'Governments have found a way to buck anti-incumbency, but one policy intervention will not pay in all elections.'
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.
Seeking justice for the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, leaders of various political parties on Wednesday met President Pranab Mukherjee and sought his intervention in directing the government to order a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the violence.
It is unfortunate that the Congress has taken a decision of contesting the elections in alliance with the JMM without even consulting allies in the UPA government, he said.
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 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.
The Jharkhand high court has reserved its order on his petition challenging the arrest warrant against him.
Once an apprentice with Tata Steel, 46-year-old Gopal Krishna Patar now proudly carries the 'giant killer' tag after humbling Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren in the by-election to the Tamar assembly constituency
Women-centric schemes could have proved a game-changer in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand, as both states witnessed a surge in women voters in the recently held assembly polls as well as return of the ruling alliances with a thumping majority.
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.
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.
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.
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.
After ensuring Jharkhand chief ministership for party chief Shibu Soren, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has now upped the ante for ensuring two ministerial berths at the Centre for its party MPs. Soren is learnt to have apprised the United Progressive Alliance leadership about the party's choice for JMM general secretary and Rajmahal MP Hemlal Murmu and the party's chief whip and Giridih MP Teklal Mahato for the berths in the Union council of ministers.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday announced its support for Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren in forming the next government in Jharkhand after the resignation of incumbent Madhu Koda.Prasad also dismissed the recent statement of Koda in which he had said he was not joining any government and had dubbed the current political situation 'ill-timed and unnecessary' as just an outburst.
Shibu Soren's hopes of making a comeback as Jharkhand chief minister by replacing incumbent Madhu Koda received a boost today with the Rashtriya Janata Dal assuring the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo of its support. Soren said after his meeting with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in Delhi that the railway minister had not only promised his party's backing, but also assured him help in securing the support of independents.
A local court acquitted former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren in the 1974 Kudko double murder case for lack of evidence on Tuesday.
Justice Yashwant Varma noted that the 75-year-old politician's objection with respect to the maintainability of the proceedings were not dealt with by the anti-corruption authority.
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.
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.
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.
Charges against 27 accused in the case were framed on January 18 under Sections of the Indian Penal Code.
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.
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.