RANCHI, DECEMBER 15: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha formally split here on Wednesday with supporters of suspended vice-president Suraj Mandal announcing the expulsion of party president Sibu Soren and his replacement by party leader and former vice-chancellor of Ranchi University Dr Ramdayal Munda at the Morcha's central committee meeting.Soren's expulsion was effected through a resolution adopted at a meeting of Mandal's supporters in the party here on Wednesday which was described by Mandal himself as a `joint meeting' of the party's central committee and its district and bloc level office-bearers.The resolution sought to justify Soren's expulsion from the party by saying that Soren had gone against the provisions of the party's constitution in suspending JMM vice-president Suraj Mandal from the party for `insufficient reasons' and without taking the party's central committee into confidence.Speaking at the meeting, central committee member Puranchand said the party's executive committee at its lastmeeting in Jamshedpur had authorised Soren to revamp the party and not to suspend Mandal unilaterally without taking the central committee -the party's highest decision making body- into confidence over the issue.Pledging their support for Mandal, party leaders who took part in the deliberations on Wednesday opined that under the leadership of Mandal alone the plateau region of Bihar could attain statehood.Meanwhile the Jharhand Mukti Morcha (Ulgulan) vice-president Prabhakar Tirkey announced his party's merger with the JMM under the leadership of Dr Munda saying that Sibu Soren was the biggest hurdle in the path of a `comprehensive unity' of the pro-Jharkhand forces.Sibu Soren had earlier threatened to expel every JMM member and office-bearer who took part in Wednesday's meeting convened by the suspended Morcha vice-president Suraj Mandal.Describing the meeting called by Mandal as `illegal' Soren had said here recently that since Mandal held no post in the party he had no authority to convene aparty meeting at any level.Suraj Mandal at the end of the meeting, however, claimed that the majority of the party's central committee was with him. Out of a total of 168 members of the party's central committee 100 were present at the meeting, he claimed.The actual strength of JMM's central committee is 201 out of which 33 members are under suspension at present.Incidentally, out of 16 JMM MLAs in the Bihar Assembly, none attended Wednesday's meeting called by suspended Morcha vice-president Suraj Mandal in an apparent show of strength.Prominent among those who attended the meeting were Dr Ramdayal Munda, Suraj Mandal, Kumar Barun, (central committee secretary), Shashibhushan Pandey, Jagnarayan Das, Deep Narayan, Shweta Mukherjee, Deepak Pradhan, Lal Randhir Nath Shahdeo, Nirmala Devi, Mahendra Kachchap and Rakesh Mahato (all central committee members).
