Signaling the possible revocation of President?s Rule and installation of an NDA government, BJP MP and former CM Arjun Munda on Tuesday met Governor MOH Farook and staked claim to form the government in Jharkhand.
Farook will examine his claim before taking a decision. ?We will get back to you?, the governor told Munda after he handed over a letter of support signed by 45 NDA MLAs (BJP 18, JMM 18, All Jharkhand Students Union 5, JD(U) 2 and Independents 2) in the House of 81.
All these MLAs, except the JMM?s Polus Surin, a former Maoist who is in jail facing more than a dozen cases, accompanied Munda to the Raj Bhawan. ?Now we are sure we will soon be invited to form the government?, said Munda, minutes after coming out of Raj Bhawan.
After the Assembly elections last year threw up a fractured mandate, the BJP, JD(U), AJSU and JMM put together a coalition government led by Shibu Soren on December 30. Soren had to get elected as MLA within six months to continue as the CM. As he failed to do so and nobody else from the ruling coalition and the Opposition Congress came forward to form the government, President?s Rule was imposed in Jharkhand on June 1.
During the past three months and more, even as the state Assembly remained in suspended animation, Farook tried to put the administration on a fast track. He cracked down on tainted officials such as ex-JPSC chairman Dilip Prasad and Jharkhand Pollution Control Board secretary RK Sinha and recommended a CBI probe into the Secret Service Fund misappropriation case involving DGP VD Ram. Since the Soren government had been a failure, Farook earned public applause. The Congress and its ally, the JVM, welcomed his decisions and sought dissolution of the Assembly followed by fresh polls.
Today, before turning up at Raj Bhawan, Munda, who is MP from Jamshedpur,was unanimously elected as the BJP?s legislature party leader. He met Soren and took his blessings.