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.
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.
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.
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.
About 75 percent of sitting Jharkhand legislators lost the assembly elections, while just 25 percent retained their seats.
At least three members of the BJP Parliamentary Board, that approved candidates list, told me that release of my book by Nitish Kumar in 2017 was strongly resented and probably this cost me the party nomination, Roy said.
A local court acquitted former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren in the 1974 Kudko double murder case for lack of evidence on Tuesday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 voters of Jharkhand did not accept Raghubar Das.'
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.
'This is what Hindu Rashtra looks like, which has been enabled by conditions of democracy.'
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to share power with them in Jharkhand on 50:50 basis, two days after the saffron party said it would head the coalition for the rest of the tenure (four and half years) of the present house.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the government has taken care of the interests of everyone and 'the interest of India'.
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.
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.
Pradip Gogoi, arrested on April 8, 1998, is in judicial custody at the central jail in Guwahati, Anup Chetia, who was held in Dhaka on December 21, 1997, is still in detention in Bangladesh. Ideologue Buragohain is now in Tezpur jail, Sonitpur. On December 4, Rajkhowa and Raju Barua were arrested by Border Security Force men.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party workers shout slogans and wave banners during the statewide bandh called by the party on Monday.
By conventional yardsticks, Das was an audacious choice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP president Amit Shah, like Devendra Fadnavis was in Maharashtra and Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana. Will his choice pay off in the elections next month?
Uddhav said fast implementation of the announcement is necessary.
Armed with out-of-the box manifestos that promise abolition of income tax and unemployment allowance to educated youth, 48 Lok Sabha candidates of 21 lesser known parties have jumped in the poll fray in Gujarat.
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