With the ground zero of politics in Jharkhand replete with every marker of instability in view of the way the numbers stack up in the Assembly, the Congress party appears to be fighting shy of engaging in manoeuvres to either keep the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in power or to insinuate itself into government in Ranchi.
In the event, well-placed party sources suggest that the optimum scenario from the Congress perspective might be to hope for Central rule in the state while keeping the Assembly in a state of suspended animation.
The game of government-formation can be revisited after a six-month spell of President’s Rule, by which time all parties concerned might have the opportunity to re-assess their prospects in a new light.
No decision to this effect has, however, yet been taken by the Congress high command. Since governor M.O.H. Farook gave chief minister Shibu Soren a week’s time to prove his majority on the floor of the House after the BJP withdrew support on Monday, sources say the Congress would like to look at the political moves being made by different parties before making its own decision known.
What Congress decides is likely to be crucial in the end.
Sources said that more than try and cobble together a government in an uncertain political environment, the effort of the Congress is likely to centre on trying to demonstrate that the Bharatiya Janata Party is an uncertain political partner and unfit to be relied upon as a coalition ally.
The Soren-led Jharkhand government, at the core of which was the JMM-BJP alliance, seen as opportunistic in the extreme by most, collapsed in less than five months.
The Congress thinks it is well-placed to capitalise on this fiasco, which it hopes will serve as an object lesson for other parties in the system, especially NDA allies of the BJP.