PATNA, NOV 9: In a bid to keep his promise to install JMM chief Shibu Soren as Jharkhand Chief Minister, Laloo Prasad has decided to camp in Ranchi from November 12 for three days.Laloo - immediately after extending support to Soren - initiated the process of finding allies. Besides talking to Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai, incharge of Bihar, he also rang up some senior Congress leaders and sought their help.Both Soren and Laloo are quite happy with the recent developments within the BJP. JMM sources said that some BJP legislators met Soren and expressed their faith in him.Meanwhile, Laloo appeared confident of support of atleast 42 MLAs to Soren. Laloo said: ``Nitish too was sure of winning trust vote, but eventually lost in the numbers game. Same thing will be repeated in Jharkhand and once again a BJP nominee will fail to muster adequate number of legislators.''On the other hand, the BJP which till now was going strong, has suddenly getting the jitters, primarily because of its intra-party contradictions. BJP incharge of Bihar Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi arrived here today to take stock of the situation and ensure to keep the flock together. Naqvi faced a piquant situation, as a number of senior leaders loyal to national vice-president Kailashpati Mishra, reiterated that the BJP leadership is yet to take a formal decision on chief ministership issue.Sources maintain that a meeting of BJP legislators today also witnessed some hiccups. Some legislators held the view that the issue should be left to them. In fact, sources said that the BJP leadership is ``scared'' of Laloo's presence in Ranchi from November 12. They feel that some of the gullible and anti-Marandi legislators may prefer to switch their loyalty.Meanwhile, efforts have been launched by central leaders to persuade Mishra to accept decision of BJP's central leaders and agree on Marandi. But Mishra is yet to reconcile to the proposal.Insiders say that Mishra's revolt has his own dimension. While he is irked at the ``unnecessary'' intervention by the central leaders, he also has fears ``desertion'' by senior party leaders in protest. Already Bihar unit had suffered due to desertion of senior leaders during the Assembly polls.
