BJP pulls the plug in Jharkhand

As a natural corollary to Shibu Soren’s voting in favour of the UPA government during the cut motion brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the BJP has withdrawn its support to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) government in Jharkhand.

Ironically, on Tuesday, the BJP was proclaiming loudly that Soren had come to parliament at their insistence to vote in their favour. But his vote for the UPA left the BJP with no choice but to sever its ties with foremost Santhal leader of Jharkhand.

Without the BJP’s support, the four-month-old JMM-led government in Jharkhand is now in a minority and unless the JMM finds an ally to re-establish its majority in the Jharkhand assembly, the state, which is facing a major threat from Maoists, is likely to come under President’s rule.

The BJP made it clear that it would neither forgive nor forget the JMM leader’s double-crossing act. That the BJP would withdraw its support was evident on Tuesday after Soren voted against the BJP’s cut motion; only the announcement was made a day later.

“The BJP parliamentary board has decided to withdraw support immediately to the Shibu Soren government. Soren has behaved in a very dubious manner and voted with the government during the cut motion. We have taken very serious note of this betrayal and his dubious conduct,” said senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar.

Rajya Sabha member Hemant Soren, who is a son of Shibhu Soren, claimed the cross-voting happened by mistake due to some confusion during the voting.

“We have already explained our position to the BJP president Nitin Gadkari last night,” he said. But given the fact that Soren appeared unrepentant, merely saying, “What has happened has happened”, Hemant’s story doesn’t sell well.

It is reliably learnt that Soren, who was sitting next to the Trinamool’s Sudeep Bandhopadhyay, had asked his neighbour whom to vote for. Apparently, Bandhopadhyay asked Soren to come along with the UPA government and Soren obliged.

On Thursday, the BJP will hand over a letter to the state governor declaring that its 18 members will not be backing the JMM, which also has the same number of legislators. This will reduce the Soren-led coalition to 28 in a house of 82.

When asked whether the BJP had an inkling of the JMM’s move, BJP leader Gopinath Munde in the negative. “Had we known that he would vote against us, we would not have asked him to come and vote for us. By voting for the UPA, Soren has made it clear that he has voted against the common people. We cannot be with a party that is anti-people,” he said.

The BJP had on Monday claimed that Soren and another JMM MP, Kameshwar Baitha, would vote with them. Baitha, who is in jail, was unable to attend the Lok Sabha.