|
New Delhi: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to split the ruling United Progressive Alliance ahead of the crucial Tuesday trust vote in Parliament.
The BJP has thrown a fresh bait to regional Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, one of the constituents of the UPA, by offering to make JMM supremo Shibu Soren Jharkhand chief minister.
JMM along with the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Janata Dal (Secular) hold the key to the survival of the UPA government.
JMM, which has five lawmakers in the Lok Sabha, is scheduled to take the final stand on the issue tomorrow. Soren is cut up with the Congress party leadership, which heads the UPA, for ignoring his claim to return as a federal minister after his acquittal by a court in a criminal case even though several other tainted lawmakers continue to be ministers.
According to sources close to Soren, he is in a defiant mood and would not settle for anything lesser than his return as the federal coal and mines minister, the post he held until November 2006 or his appointment as the Jharkhand chief minister.
Smaller parties
Given a choice, Soren would prefer to head the government in his home state. The Congress party, however, is in no position to accede to his demand. While the party cannot make him the Jharkhand chief minister since other UPA constituents are opposed to it, making him a federal minister would make the party further vulnerable to coercion by smaller parties.
Sensing the opportunity, the BJP has moved in establishing links with Soren by promising him the Jharkhand chief minister's post. "It is quite simple. The JMM has to just withdraw support to the state government and it would fall and we would pitch in to propel him as the next chief minister," said a senior BJP leader.
The BJP has 29 lawmakers in the state assembly while its partner Janata Dal (United) has seven. The JMM on the other hand has 17 lawmakers. Together they will have 53 lawmakers in the 81-member assembly.
The BJP is hopeful of getting the JMM vote against the government since the JMM has been its ally for long. One of the reasons Soren left the NDA was that even after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar by the NDA government in 2000 aftera long-drawn agitation led by Soren, it preferred to keep chief minister's post.
|
