Advani moves in to spike Namdhari bid

In Ranchi, Governor M Rama Jois tonight asked Marandi to prove his majority on the floor of the House but rejected the Opposition claim to form an alternative government led by Namdhari. He did not set a time-frame but indicated that Marandi must have majority before March 31 by when the state budget must be passed.

‘‘Whereas an important question as to whether the council of ministers headed by Babulal Marandi still enjoys the confidence of the House or not has arisen, I hereby request the Jharkand Assembly to consider this question with convenient despatch having due regard to the requirement of passing of the budget before March 31,’’ the Governor said in a communique.

The communique came around the team leaders in Delhi ended their meeting at the residence of BJP president Venkaiah Naidu.

Those present included Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha who represents Hazaribagh, senior Samata Party leader and Railways Minister Nitish Kumar, Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Karia Munda and Samata Party general secretary Shambhu Shrivastav.

Since the entire gameplan centred on the report of the Governor, the main hurdle in pushing it through was the interpretation of Thursday’s proceedings in the Jharkhand Assembly.

Sources said that Jaitley, who had been called to the meeting for the legal perspective, argued that Namdhari’s claim of the supposed loss of majority by Marandi in the Assembly was self-contradictory.

He could not take a voice vote and also arrive at a number. ‘‘It has to be either,’’ Jaitley was quoted as having said. As for the mandatory requirement of Parliametary approval of President’s rule within three months, his contention was that the current political situation could be overturned within this period and the Assembly could be revived.

All senior leaders agreed that the minimum that could be done to bring the rebels back to their camp was to meet the basic demand for a change of leadership. Namdhari’s basic credentials of being a non-tribal could be easily exploited to drum up support for Munda, a popular tribal leader. On their part, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav left it to the BJP to take a decision.

For the record, however, Naidu later told journalists: ‘‘The issue now is not of a change of leadership. The question today is whether the government has a majority or not. We have a majority and once the government proves that, it will continue to serve its full term. There was no voting in the Assembly and, hence, there was no question of the government being defeated on the floor of the House. We will wait for the Governor’s report.’’

When he was asked if a change of leadership was being contemplated, Naidu said, ‘‘Marandi continues to be the Chief Minister so long as his government enjoys majority in the Assembly.’’

He said BJP general secretary Rajnath Singh would be reaching Ranchi tomorrow to review the situation. Shambhu Shrivastav, when reached for his comments, told The Indian Express, ‘‘We will stand by the BJP. We will strive to bring our MLAs back.’’

Namdhari sings into night, leaves CM to rant

Manoj Prasad

Ranchi, March 14: Bungalow 3 on Kanke Road trembled through the night as Chief Minister Babulal Marandi cursed the man he had backed as Jharkhand’s first Speaker.

But Bungalow 5 couldn’t care less. Inder Singh Namdhari, the man Marandi says stabbed him in the back to gun for the top job, was singing into the night: ‘‘Mere pairon me ghungroo bandha de to phir meri chaal dekh le…(strap the anklets and watch me move).’’

Namdhari knew it was his night. People were thrusting bouquets, pumping his hand, touching his feet and every journalist wanted an exclusive chat for the morning edition. There were still others who, as they waited for an audience with the man, played a guessing game on when would he move house and job from Bungalow 5 to Bungalow 3.

After all, Namdhari had been elected leader of 42 MLAs — seven ministers who switched loyalty from Marandi and 35 Opposition MLAs representing the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (12), Congress (11), Rashtriya Janata Dal (9), CPI(2) and MCC (1). Stephen Marandi, the Leader of Opposition, had himself led the MLAs to Governor M. Rama Jois and informed him that Namdhari was their chosen man.

‘‘The Marandi government has lost majority in the House. Since 42 members of the House have elected Namdhari as their leader, you may please invite him to form the government so that the Constitutional responsibility to approve the state’s annual budget can be be passed by the Assembly,’’ Jois was told.

The Governor was staring at another representation — from Babulal Marandi. The CM had accused the Speaker of plotting the fall of his government, of twisting the Rules of Executive Business.

Marandi’s argument went something like this: How could Namdhari perform the CM’s job of accepting the resignations of seven ministers? How could the Speaker allow these ministers to sit with the Opposition? The pandemonium in the House should have shut out voting on any motion or Bill yet the Speaker ruled that the Opposition-sponsored motion had been passed with a voice vote. With two conflicting sets of views, Jois decided to take his time.

He said he would go through the Assembly records before coming to a conclusion. He also dropped hints that he might want to test the strength of the two sides on the floor of the House.

He told the two sides tonight to ‘‘consider this question (whether Marandi still enjoys confidence of the House) with convenient dispatch having due regard to the requirement of passing the Budget before March 31.’’

But Namdhari, well-versed in statecraft, didn’t look too worried. A Namdhari Sikh born in Nowshera but brought up in Daltongunj in Palamau after his family migrated, he had given up a techno-career — he says he graduated in electronics from the state-run Bihar (now Birsa) Institute of Technology — and opted for politics to eventually become the BJP MLA from Daltongunj in 1980.

But a year later, he walked out of the BJP with 13 others to bail out the then Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav during a no-confidence vote. Laloo rewarded Namdhari, making him the Revenue and Land Reforms Minister.

In 1995, Namdhari parted ways with Laloo after exposing a Rs 500-crore land scam. He joined the Janata Dal and then the JD-U before being elected Jharkhand’s first Speaker in 2000.

His critics concede he’s come a long way. Babulal Marandi, they say, should have known better when he backed Namdhari. But these jibes make no difference to the man in Bungalow 5 who, like Dilip Kumar in Sangharsh, has been singing into the night: ‘‘Mere pairon me ghungroo bandha de to phir meri chaal dekh le…’’