New Delhi, May 01: The BJP is holding meetings with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and other allies here to sort out issues regarding formation of a new Government in case Mr Shibu Soren has to step down as Chief Minister.
Senior BJP leaders met at party chief Nitin Gadkari’s residence this morning and later on they held a round of talks with the JMM leaders.
They would be holding another round of talks later in the afternoon. The BJP, which had on April 28 decided to part ways with the JMM Government after Mr Soren voted against the Opposition-sponsored Cut Motion in the Lok Sabha describing his move as ”betrayal”, later deferred withdrawal of support after Mr Shibu Soren apologised and his son offerred to support a BJP-led government. The Party’s Parliamentray Board had met yesterday to consider the offer. After the meeting party general secretray Anant Kumar had told reporters that an appropriate decision would be taken after consultations with NDA partners including the JD(U).
The decision had thrown the state into a political crisis as it was barely four months ago that the JMM had formed the government with the support of the BJP.
Sources say that there were opposite views in the party over accepting Mr Soren’s offer as it was not yet clear as how far his proposal enjoyed the support of his party MLAs. The party is now very guarded in deciding the extent to which it should go with the JMM, as temporary gains might prove harmful in the long run, they say.
The BJP and its NDA ally Janata Dal (United) have 20 MLAs in the 82-member Jharkhand Assembly. The JMM has 18 MLAs and the combine have enough numbers to run the Government.
However, if the BJP would have withdrawn the support, there was very remote possibility of the Congress supporting the Soren government and the only possible scenario would have been President’s Rule.
—–Agencies