Other States - Jharkand

5 Ministers resign from Marandi Govt.

By K. Balchand

RANCHI MAY 26. The resignation of five Samata Party Ministers, including two of the Cabinet rank, from the Babulal Marandi-led coalition Government in Jharkhand is an exercise at exerting pressure on the Chief Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has not been in the best of terms with its allies in the States in general.

The Samata Party is using the carrot-and-stick policy to browbeat the BJP for not acceding to its demand for the Rajya Sabha seat, the byelection to which is scheduled for May 30, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dayanand Sahay.

The BJP has put up its State unit president, Abhay Kant Prasad. The Samata Party wanted the BJP to withdraw its nominee in favour of its candidate, Raj Kishore Mahto, son of the veteran leader, Binod Bihari Mahto. Significantly, the contest is limited to these two candidates of the NDA. While the Congress reportedly decided to stay away, the JMM apparently decided to extend support to the Samata Party. The JMM support, however, does not bolster the prospects of the Samata as much as the BJP, in the absence of the Congress.

The Samata Party's protest is token in nature. The Ministers handed over their resignations when Mr. Marandi was away campaigning in Dumka — a seat he vacated following his election as the Chief Minister in November 1991 — without actually withdrawing support to the Government. Withdrawal of support, in any case, will not put the Government in peril. Mr. Marandi is expected to take a decision on the issue after his return to Ranchi.

Mr. Marandi's problems have increased following the resignations. The Samata Party and the JD (U) have already walked out of the coordination committee charging that it was non-functional and that they had little say in the functioning of the Government.

Moreover, the Samata Party is yet to forget the humiliation it suffered in Manipur where it had to forgo its Government due to the BJP's misadventure. There were talks then that the Samata Party would pull out of the Marandi Government to settle a score, but it was avoided so as not to precipitate a crisis at the national level.

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