CM chair in sight as Soren wins Lalu support

The Congress president has called Koda to New Delhi on Friday.

According to sources, Lalu’s consent to cooperate with the Congress on the issue is a “big positive” for Soren.

The RJD chief has been the biggest supporter of Koda and if he asks the CM to vacate the chair, sources said, “Guruji will not have any problem in getting other Independents on board.”

“The Koda Government will anyway fall without JMM’s support. The Congress leadership has to decide if it wants an election at a stage when the BJP looks set to come back stronger,” said JMM sources.

But Koda has of late been acting as an “independent” CM and if Lalu were to leave him to take his own decision, it could still spoil Soren’s prospects, said sources.

While the Congress has been committed to supporting Soren if he could rustle up the numbers, the JMM was counting on “election phobia” that Independents would have.

The fear of early polls would ultimately lead Independent MLAs to fall in line once the UPA leadership endorses Soren’s candidature, said JMM sources.

Cracks in the Independent flock have already appeared with three out of 9 (including Koda) ready to back Soren.

Apart from that, two rebel BJP MLAs have also come out in support of Soren.

Meanwhile, the mood in the JMM camp turned optimistic in the evening after Sonia’s meeting with Lalu and then with Soren. “Everything is clear now. Lalu has given his go-ahead and Koda has been summoned to Delhi on Thursday,” declared a JMM MP.

Besides, hectic political meetings and contradictory statements from Soren and Lalu, too, marked the day. It began with Soren’s claim of meeting Lalu and getting an assurance from the RJD boss that he was ready to back his candidature. Immediately, however, Lalu denied having met Soren, indicating his opposition to the change of leadership in the state.

At the same time, Lalu said: “Let everybody (UPA) decide first. I will abide by everybody’s decision.” Later it was learnt that the Lalu-Soren meeting indeed took place and even the Congress confirmed it.

After a meeting of senior UPA leaders at External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s residence, Congress’ Jharkhand in-charge Ajay Maken said consultations between UPA allies were on to reach a consensus over the Jharkhand crisis. “All UPA partners will arrive at a common stand,” Maken said.