Piqued Munda declines Jharkhand minister’s post

Munda was apparently angry over the manner in which party had undermined his seniority. He served as MoS in Morarji Desai Cabinet in 1977 and was inducted as Cabinet Minister for Environment and Forests during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s 13-day Government in 1996. “If the party could not appoint him as Jharkhand chief minister, he should at least have been inducted as cabinet minister in the Union Cabinet”, said one his close aides.

Munda’s agony was further aggravated due to resignation of a much younger Jharkhand leader, Babu Lal Marandi, the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, last night thereby making him a certain candidate for the top slot in Jharkhand.

BJP sources claim that Marandi was a natural choice for Jharkhand chief minister after majority of BJP MLAs from the proposed state, favoured him over Munda. But, a senior BJP leader who was plumping for Munda, is learnt to have advised him to decline the cabinet berth.

“We acted in haste without proper information”, said Kailashpati Mishra, BJP vice president who is in charge of party affairs in Bihar. Munda is learnt to have conveyed his refusal of the Cabinet berth to Mishra late yesterday night who in turn informed senior party leaders including the Prime Minister, of Munda’s desire.

Efforts were then on to pacify Munda but the latter would not agree to accept anything less than Jharkhand’s chief ministership, BJP sources claimed. Only last night he had given some TV interviews outlining his priorities once he took over as first chief minister of Jharkhand.

Munda however, preferred discretion today and refused to comment on the controversy. “I was not prepared to take up the assignment. I need some time to think”, is all he told a group of reporters.

BJP leaders however, claimed that issue of Jharkhand chief ministership was still open and that Munda as well as Marandi were equal contenders for the top slot.

A three-day meeting of MLAs of BJP and its allies will be held at Patna from November 8 to finalise the leadership issue, Mishra said. “A week is still left before the new state comes into being on November 15 and various issues have to be discussed before we take a final decision,” he said.