The Hindu : Power struggle in Bihar BJP

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Saturday, Jan 10, 2004

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National

Power struggle in Bihar BJP

By Our Staff Correspondent

RANCHI, JAN. 9. At the national level, the Bharatiya Janata Party may well have debated in favour of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, but the issue has brought to the fore the power struggle within the State unit of the BJP here.

The battle lines are drawn between the Chief Minister, Arjun Munda, and the national vice-president and former Chief Minister, Babu Lal Marandi, who was forced to make way for the former due to differences within the National Democratic Alliance and the BJP.

Mr. Marandi favours early elections to the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly along with the Lok Sabha polls, while the Chief Minister is opposed to it.

Mr. Marandi sees no reason why Assembly elections should not be held early and is expected to raise the issue at the national executive meeting of the party scheduled in Hyderabad next week. His supporters argue that simultaneous polls would save both resources and time.

The Chief Minister is opposed to the idea saying that the mandate is for five years and wants the elections to be held when due in February 2005, that is at the completion of the term of the Assembly. He sees no reason why the election should be advanced by almost a year.

Mr. Munda has decided to convene a meeting of the constituents to take a decision in this regard. He is confident that his Ministers, including those of the allies, would not prefer to put on line their offices. Having taken over the reins early last year, Mr. Munda is yet to complete one year in office and is not likely to do anything that could jeopardise his position.

Mr. Marandi is apparently yet to reconcile himself to giving up his office and feels that his chances of staging a comeback would brighten in the post-election scenario.

In the event of simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the Jharkhand Assembly, the party would contest under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which may open the issue of the leadership of the legislative wing at the State level for arbitration by the central leadership.

Mr. Munda's motive is to obviate that possibility and allow no room for Mr. Marandi to squeeze his way back.

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