Ranchi, May 22 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren Saturday said that his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was talking to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for government formation, and a final decision would be taken Sunday.
‘Talks are on with both the BJP and the Congress,’ the JMM chief said in Bokaro, about 110 km from here.
Asked when a decision would be taken, he said: ‘Our legislators are at different places and some of them are in New Delhi. We will meet Sunday in Ranchi to take a decision.’
The BJP and the JMM May 18 announced they would share power by rotation for the remainder of the state assembly’s term.
Since then, the JMM chief has stunned the BJP by going back on the pledge.
On Thursday, he stunned everyone by declaring that he would not step down as chief minister to let the BJP take the reins of power. ‘The rotation of power is not acceptable to us.’
He said he would contest a by-election to get elected to the Jharkhand legislature but did not say from which seat.
On Friday, he said in Bokari that he had formed the government for five years. ‘My government was formed for five years and we will complete the full tenure.’
According to political sources, the two dissenting JMM legislators — Teklal Mahto and Lobin Hembrom — who went to New Delhi Thursday were sent by Soren to hold talks with Congress leaders.
If Soren gets a positive response from the Congress, he could dump the BJP, the sources said.
Jharkhand has been in the midst of a political crisis since Soren voted against the BJP’s cut motions in the Lok Sabha. This led the BJP, a junior partner in the Jharkhand coalition, to withdraw support to the JMM.
After several days of intense negotiations, the BJP said it would continue to ally with the JMM if the latter helped it to form a government in the state.
