Cong. not to support Soren

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 13. The Congress today decided to sit in the Opposition and not to support any group in its bid to form the government in Jharkhand. The decision came after a two-hour informal meeting of the Congress Working Committee this afternoon. The decision also sets the stage for the BJP's Mr. Babulal Marandi to become the first Chief Minister of the new State.

The Congress rationale was explained in a statement after the meeting by the party general secretary, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad. ``In view of the fact that no stable government can be constituted in the State because of the equal division of MLAs, the CWC is of the opinion that we should not support any group to form the government in Jharkhand.''

The party's decision also effectively puts paid to Mr. Shibu Soren's bid to form the government with the help of non-NDA parties.

Senior Congress leaders said their decision to sit in the Opposition was taken because the party believed that even if it did extend support, there was no guarantee of a government being formed since all the nine parties together were still one short of the magic number of 40. The BJP claims that it already has the support of 43 MLAs in the 81-member House.

The BJP legislature party is slated to meet tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Ranchi to formally elect its leader. The meeting will be followed by a meeting of the NDA allies to elect Mr. Marandi as the leader of the alliance in the State.

According to Congress leaders, even if Mr. Soren does form the government, given the numbers game and the likely composition, the government will be certainly unstable; an arrangement the Congress does not fancy being a part of. ``Even with our support there is no guarantee of the government being stable,'' a CWC member told The Hindu.

Among those who spoke in favour of the Congress sitting in the Opposition were Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and Mr. Madhavrao Scindia.

The party's decision not to support Mr. Soren's bid was not a sudden one. The party general secretary in-charge of Bihar, Ms. Mohsina Kidwai, has been continuously in touch with MLAs from the State.

A major consideration before the party was that there was no guarantee of Mr. Soren being successful in his bid to win a vote of confidence even if the Congress, with its 11 members, was to support him. ``We didn't want to look silly like Mr. Nitish Kumar,'' said the AICC secretary, Mr. Anil Shastri.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Democrats to move court against Florida result
Next     : Karunanidhi blames Patel Govt.