Govt gets 90 days to create a separate Jharkhand state

We will no longer tolerate dilly-dallying over the issue,’ JF convenor Sudhir Mahato told PTI.

Mahato, also secretary of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Ulgulan), a major JF constituent, alleged that the BJP-led coalition government had backtracked from its promise last year by half-heartedly placing the State Reorganisation (Vananchal) Bill, 1998, only days before Parliament was dissolved.

However, as people have reposed faith in the Vajpayee government it is duty bound to fulfill its promise of creating the Jharkhand state.

Turning to Congress role on the issue, Mahato said that if the party is really serious about the separate state issue, they should forthwith sever its ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar and pressure Congress president Sonia Gandhi to create a Jharkhand state on priority basis.

Criticising the Congress for its cavalier attitude towards creation of a separate Jharkhand state, Mahato claimed that the tribals of the region have lost faith in the Congress, particularly after its decision to join hands with anti-Jharkhand forces.

Besides, the Congress had used the separate tribal state issue in its election manifesto only to gain political mileage in this region, he alleged.

Mahato held the JMM solely responsible for the debacle suffered by the Jharkhand parties in the just-concluded Lok Sabha election, claiming Jharkhand parties could have managed to bag a couple of seats in the poll had the JMM president, Sibu Soren, agreed to forge an electoral alliance with the JF.

Soren’s whimsical decision to field candidates in all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, for which elections were held on September 18 in South Bihar, caused tremendous division of Jharkhand votes and a failure to win a single seat from the region by any Jharkhand party for the second consecutive time in Lok Sabha election.

The JF will meet on October 25 at Ranchi to chalk out its future course of action.