After two days of waiting and watching, the BJP appears to be getting ready to take a stab at government formation in Jharkhand. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has began talks with the BJP after failing to firm up a deal with the Congress, which refused to give the chief minister’s chair to JMM chief Shibu Soren.
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is helping to work out a deal, said “all options are open”. Former Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda, who was supposed to return to Delhi on Friday, has been asked to stay put in Ranchi.
The BJP maintained it was prepared to wait and watch, but the JMM came seeking help. “We suit the JMM better since the Congress is friends with Babulal Marandi, who is Soren’s rival,” a source said.
In the supposed formula worked out between the two, the BJP will get four ministerial berths and its ally, the Janata Dal (U), one. The Sudesh Mahato-led All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which has decided to support the government, will get two berths. Shibu Soren will reportedly be made chief minister and four ministerial berths will be added to the deal.
While the BJP refused to confirm the ‘formula’, sources said the party was “close” to striking a deal.
“The JMM finds us more acceptable than the Congress as we have no problem making him [Soren] CM,” a top source in the party said. Whatever the level of acceptance, the numbers certainly add up. In the 81-member Jharkhand House, the halfway mark is 41 MLAs. The JMM with its 18 MLAs, the NDA with its 20 and the AJSU with five legislators easily add up to that number.
Initially, the BJP was not of one mind on forming a government in Jharkhand. Rajnath Singh was pushing for it, but other members of the party’s parliamentary board did not want to touch JMM with a barge pole. Rajnath argued that the effect of the Jharkhand elections will be significant on Bihar when assembly polls are held in that state next year.
“Our morale will receive a boost and it will give us the strength for the long fight ahead,” he said and sold his proposal.
The final decision, of course, has been left to Nitin Gadkari, the new party chief.
Gadkari, who declared that electoral strategy and party ideology operate at different levels, will have a chance to show how that works.
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