Ranchi, March 12
This was published here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/soren-govt-in-trouble-as-another-mla-leaves-jmm/
The Hemant Soren government is on the brink as another MLA left the ruling coalition on Wednesday, with JMM's Hemlal Mumu joining the BJP in Delhi.
Murmu became the fifth legislator to leave the ruling coalition and join a party that is not in the JMM-Congress-RJD-Others alliance. On July 18 last year, the Hemant Soren government had passed its floor test with the support of 43 legislators, with 37 voting against.
Since, BJP's C.P. Singh, who presided over the House of 82 that day, has ceased to be Speaker and JMM man Shashank Shekhar Bhokta has taken over. However, it is not a straight transfer of seats to the Opposition, as the anti-defection law is likely to apply in the case of Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey, who moved from the Congress to the TMC, and Murmu.
The keys to the government, then, are with two TMC legislators. Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda, escaped the anti-defection law by merging their single-legislator parties into the TMC. Tirkey, in particular, is crucial to CM Soren as he was the legislator who had worked behind the scenes to bring together six other Independent legislators to vote for the government.
TMC's general secretary Mukul Roy had said in the past that his party would support Hemant's government for now, adding that the decision would be up for review post-Lok Sabha elections. However, that position seems to have undergone a change since "Dadai" Dubey joined the party since leaving the Congress after being denied the Dhanbad ticket. Dubey, who was fired from the Hemant cabinet after levelling corruption allegations against the CM, said that Hemant should resign. "I cannot tell you for sure where the TMC would go if there is a floor test tomorrow. However, the Hemant government should resign. It has lost numbers. Hemlal Murmu has left the JMM and he has taken MLAs away with him," he claimed.
There was to be more trouble for the JMM on Wednesday after MLA Simon Marandi, who has represented Rajmahal thrice in the Lok Sabha, expressed his disappointment with Hemant after being denied a ticket for his son. Marandi wanted his son to contest from Rajmahal but the party did not entertain him. "Hemant Soren is not running the government; his political advisor Himanshu Shekhar is," said Marandi in Ranchi.
That the government may not survive beyond the Lok Sabha polls was a known fact. At the time of the declaration of its alliance with the JMM, the Congress had said that the coming together was intended for the Lok Sabha elections. The Jharkhand government's fate then, is intrinsically linked to the results of the general election. With the state scheduled to go to polls early in 2015, there may not be time for another government to take over in case this experiment fails.
Murmu is likely to contest from the Rajmahal constituency on a BJP ticket. He had represented Rajmahal in the 14th Lok Sabha and was miffed after JMM recruited Vijay Hansda from the Youth Congress to contest from the seat.
Murmu was the second JMM legislator to join another party on Wednesday - Kameshwar Baitha, the party's MP from Palamu, joined the TMC at Mamata Banerjee's Delhi rally. Baitha had expressed a desire to join the BJP, which was hesitant to have the former Maoist, who with 46 had the most criminal cases against an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha, in its ranks.
Murmu became the fifth legislator to leave the ruling coalition and join a party that is not in the JMM-Congress-RJD-Others alliance. On July 18 last year, the Hemant Soren government had passed its floor test with the support of 43 legislators, with 37 voting against.
Since, BJP's C.P. Singh, who presided over the House of 82 that day, has ceased to be Speaker and JMM man Shashank Shekhar Bhokta has taken over. However, it is not a straight transfer of seats to the Opposition, as the anti-defection law is likely to apply in the case of Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey, who moved from the Congress to the TMC, and Murmu.
The keys to the government, then, are with two TMC legislators. Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda, escaped the anti-defection law by merging their single-legislator parties into the TMC. Tirkey, in particular, is crucial to CM Soren as he was the legislator who had worked behind the scenes to bring together six other Independent legislators to vote for the government.
TMC's general secretary Mukul Roy had said in the past that his party would support Hemant's government for now, adding that the decision would be up for review post-Lok Sabha elections. However, that position seems to have undergone a change since "Dadai" Dubey joined the party since leaving the Congress after being denied the Dhanbad ticket. Dubey, who was fired from the Hemant cabinet after levelling corruption allegations against the CM, said that Hemant should resign. "I cannot tell you for sure where the TMC would go if there is a floor test tomorrow. However, the Hemant government should resign. It has lost numbers. Hemlal Murmu has left the JMM and he has taken MLAs away with him," he claimed.
There was to be more trouble for the JMM on Wednesday after MLA Simon Marandi, who has represented Rajmahal thrice in the Lok Sabha, expressed his disappointment with Hemant after being denied a ticket for his son. Marandi wanted his son to contest from Rajmahal but the party did not entertain him. "Hemant Soren is not running the government; his political advisor Himanshu Shekhar is," said Marandi in Ranchi.
That the government may not survive beyond the Lok Sabha polls was a known fact. At the time of the declaration of its alliance with the JMM, the Congress had said that the coming together was intended for the Lok Sabha elections. The Jharkhand government's fate then, is intrinsically linked to the results of the general election. With the state scheduled to go to polls early in 2015, there may not be time for another government to take over in case this experiment fails.
Murmu is likely to contest from the Rajmahal constituency on a BJP ticket. He had represented Rajmahal in the 14th Lok Sabha and was miffed after JMM recruited Vijay Hansda from the Youth Congress to contest from the seat.
Murmu was the second JMM legislator to join another party on Wednesday - Kameshwar Baitha, the party's MP from Palamu, joined the TMC at Mamata Banerjee's Delhi rally. Baitha had expressed a desire to join the BJP, which was hesitant to have the former Maoist, who with 46 had the most criminal cases against an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha, in its ranks.
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