Marandi to head new Jharkhand govt

Ranchi, Nov 14: The stage is all set for smooth installation of a BJP-led NDA government in Jharkhand, which comes into being as the count...

Ranchi, Nov 14: The stage is all set for smooth installation of a BJP-led NDA government in Jharkhand, which comes into being as the country’s 28th state at the stroke of midnight tonight, with Babulal Marandi being formally elected as the leader of the NDA legislature party.

Marandi was earlier unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party. His name was proposed by senior BJP MLA Yamuna Singh and seconded by several others at the scheduled meeting, which was attended by party central observer Madan Lal Khurana, national vice-president Kailashpati Mishra, national secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and leader of opposition in Bihar assembly Sushil Kumar Modi.

BJP, which requires the support of 41 MLAs in the 81-member house, claims to have garnered the support of 43 MLAs, including one nominated member.

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"We have garnered the support of 43 MLAs out of total 81 in Jharkhand assembly….Now we have absolute majority," Modi told PTI after the meeting and said Marandi will submit the list to Governor Prabhat Kumar soon after he is sworn in as the first incumbent tonight.

Marandi has the support of 32 BJP MLAs, five of NDA allies — Samata Party, three of JD-U, besides two AJSU-supported UGDP MLAs Sudesh Mahato and Jobha Manjhi.

Meanwhile, JMM-S president Shibu Soren, whose efforts to stake claim received a jolt last night after the CWC decision, stuck to his hopes of Congress support from outside.

Soren, an aspirant to the post of the Chief Minister who quit NDA after its rebuff to support his claim, was elected leader of the JMM-S Legislature party during the day.

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"I am still confident of outside support from Congress to form the first government in Jharkhand," he told PTI after holding a meeting to discuss JMM-S’ strategy, which was attended by RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav, Bihar Excise Minister Shivanand Tiwari, Minister for Health Shakuni Choudhary, besides the nine RJD MLAs in Jharkhand.

JMM-S, which has 12 MLAs, claims to have garnered the support of two Independents Samresh Singh and Madhavlal Singh, besides nine MLAs of RJD, two of CPI and one each of CPI-ML (Liberation a) and Marxist Coordination Centre (MCC).

After the meeting Yadav said "NDA in a conspiracy has created a design to instal its own government in Jharkhand…. We will agitate against the design."

The governor, he said, should conduct a head count of the MLAs supporting NDA and JMM-S before inviting Marandi to form the government.

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Marandi, after his election as NDA legislature party called upon the ultra-left organisation, including MCC to shun violence and offered to hold talks with their leaders to find a solution to their problems.

"Extremism in Jharkhand will end from midnight tonight when the state comes into being," he said, adding his government would not tolerate violence and take "drastic measures" to flush out the extremists.