Soren confident of Koda government's defeat

RANCHI: Claiming that arithmetic in the 81-member house favoured him, JMM president Shibu Soren on Wednesday expressed confidence that the Madhu Koda government in Jharkhand would fall during the trust vote on August 25.
    
"I have the numbers ... (Congress leader) Ahmed Patel has already stated support to us," Soren said here.
    
He, however, was evasive when asked whether he would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in New Delhi to discuss the present political crisis in the state.
    
Asked about the possibility of being let down at the eleventh hour, Soren admitted, "I can be cheated, but one cannot cheat the people. I can walk tall before the people. We have taken the decision to withdraw support to the Koda government for the people and were appreciated for it."
    
Asked if the state was headed for President's Rule, he said, "It is the last alternative and comes only after a party invited by the Governor fails to form a government. But now the governor has asked the Koda government to prove its majority in the floor of the House ... after that we will stake claim."
    
Soren said he would write to the governor on the Koda government continuing to take important policy decisions despite being in the minority.
    
"We will write to the Governor about this. Such things should not happen," Soren said.