Another JMM MLA leaves; govt on brink

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.

TMC wants Jharkhand

Ranchi, March 7
This was published here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/in-jharkhand-trinamool-pushes-for-space-dents-jmm/99/

In its quest to emerge as the largest regional party in the 16th Lok Sabha, the All India Trinamool Congress is making an aggressive push into Jharkhand.

Even before the formation of its state unit, the party has managed to capture its first legislators here, convincing two single-MLA-parties to merge with it. This, on top of getting Shibu Soren's younger brother and JMM's Bokaro district president Lalu Soren on board.

After Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda - since declared the party's candidates for Ranchi and Lohardaga respectively - it is as if the floodgates opened. The name of almost every leader likely to be ignored by their respective parties in ticket distribution have been associated with the TMC - Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey and Stephen Marandi of the Congress, and Paulus Surin of the JMM among them.

Some of these individuals are likely to stay with their parties, but the TMC does not deny it has been talking them. So much so, political parties across the state are waiting with pregnant indignation for the second candidates' list of the TMC, expected on Sunday.

All this, from a party that was widely derided for a poorly-attended rally in Ranchi on January 11. The party's Rajya Sabha MP K.D. Singh, who has since resigned from his Jharkhand seat, was the main organiser. That day also marked his first official event in Jharkhand since being elected in 2010. Singh, chairman emeritus of the Chandigarh-based Alchemist group, won as a JMM candidate under controversial circumstances before going over to the TMC in a matter of months.

The TMC appointed a state convenor in Dilip Chatterjee on February 18. "The Ranchi rally was not very important. What mattered was a February 8 rally in Dhanbad, which was well attended," said Chatterjee. He also handles the Ranchi district office; TMC now has functioning units in Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Bokaro districts. "We want to contest all 14 Lok Sabha seats and have finalised names for 5-6 of them. For the state assembly [elections, scheduled for 2015] too, we will have candidates for all seats," added Chatterjee.

Before TMC, Chatterjee was a general secretary of the JMM. "I left when JMM started losing its way. Shibu Soren was increasingly silenced inside the party," was all he was willing to say. A former central committee member of the JMM said that Chatterjee's presence could draw JMM members to the TMC.

The TMC then, could be the first beneficiary of an anti-Hemant Soren feeling that has been building up within the JMM. Older leaders have felt alienated since Hemant's rise began, surrounded by a coterie called the class of 2005 in these pages. These were people who associated themselves with the JMM the year Shibu Soren first became chief minister; the same year when Hemant first contested to the state assembly, and lost.

Apart from the big names, there are early indications that grassroots leaders could move to the JMM. Not merely Bengali-speaking individuals, but also adivasi leaders are moving toward to TMC. "Only this morning did I get a call from an important functionary in the Ramgarh district unit of the JMM, asking for a TMC leader's number," said an individual who handles media relations for a potential Lok Sabha candidate who belongs neither to the JMM nor TMC. Shibu Soren's elder brother Rajaram Soren too, has indicated that he would not mind a move to the TMC.

The JMM comes in the TMC's firing line as the former's stronghold, the Santhal Pargana region, is contiguous with West Bengal. It made its first prominent recruitment in the state there five years back, inducting anti-displacement activist and party's state women's unit convenor Muni Hansda from Dumka. She could be the TMC's candidate from the namesake constituency - currently held by Shibu Soren - but reportedly faces competition from Lalu Soren.

The TMC's strong bid could have an effect in Assam, where the party is trying to gain influence among the tea tribes - originally of Jharkhand, among whom the JMM has supporters.

This scattergun approach to collecting individuals has however resulted in an explosive mix: there is Muni Hansda, who has been a crusader against the mining companies in Dumka and Pakur; Lalu Soren, whose most important quality is that he is Shibu's brother; Bandhu Tirkey, a minister in the Madhu Koda cabinet who faces charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Chamra Linda, legally declared an absconder from 2008 to 2013 in an assault case. As if this was not enough, there are reports in the regional media that Geeta Koda, legislator and wife of the former CM, could join the TMC.

The TMC in Jharkhand is hardly an advertisement the party's brand ambassador Anna Hazare would want to be featured in. On the other hand, it is an indicator of the scale of Mamata Banerjee's ambitions.