Even as Jharkhand’s Opposition parties explored possibilities of allying with the ruling JMM to form a new government, the regional party led by Sibu Soren on Sunday seemed unwilling to snap ties with the state’s main ruling party BJP for the time being.
Internal resistance at a meeting of the JMM’s core committee forced the party to reconsider its rapidly emerging plans to withdraw from the BJP-led coalition government a year before the current Assembly’s term ends. The development gave the BJP, which had been put under dire notice by Soren two weeks ago, new hopes for running the government under Arjun Munda’s chief ministership.
JMM sources said while most of the core committee members and leaders from the districts and blocks preferred separating from the BJP on January 10, a majority of the party’s MLAs and all the four ministers resisted the plans, saying it would harm the JMM in the long run.
A marathon meeting at Soren’s residence at Morabadi in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi saw an acute division of opinions and the party decided to take up the issue afresh at another meeting scheduled on Monday.
“Guruji (Soren) will now take a final decision on the developments and the resolutions adopted by the JMM Legislature Party after our executive committee meets tomorrow to discuss the issues,” said general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya after the core committee meeting ended in the evening.
Sources said an apparent unwillingness by the Congress’s national leadership for a tie-up with the JMM to form a new government forced the U-turn in the JMM’s course of action. The party had asked CM Arjun Munda to step down on January 10 when he completes 28 months in office so that the JMM could head the alliance government as per a power-sharing agreement. The BJP consistently refused to acknowledge any such agreement.