Shortly after they broke ranks on the presidential polls, Jharkhand’s main ruling allies, BJP and JMM, are back into open tussles seemingly emerging from their heightened alliance strains and the competitive vote-bank politics ahead of the upcoming polls.
Much to the chagrin of the BJP that heads the four-party coalition government, an unexpectedly aggressive JMM has caused frequent embarrassments to chief minister Arjun Munda on a variety of populist issues in the past fortnight. The confrontations have led to speculations about a possible breakup of the ruling coalition due to a fast upsurge in differences between the BJP and the JMM.
Keeping up its strong central ethos of tribal empowerment, the JMM, which has earlier contested polls against the BJP in the state, chose to lend support to growing opposition by tribal organisations to farmland acquisition in the wake of the violence over the land acquired at Nagri village near capital Ranchi. While the Mr Munda government remains in dilemma over the Nagri imbroglio, where plans for a mega educational hub are now in danger, the JMM has asked farmers protesting “land grab by the government” to go ahead with cultivation on the disputed land.
The JMM brought more embarrassment to Mr Munda and the BJP last week by asking for the “immediate return” of two senior government officials who have left for the London Olympics ostensibly because their absence was hampering the government’s plans to deal with a drought-like condition.