NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 5: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's wait for a word from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on its demand for Jharkhand's chief minister continues, even though the alliance seems to have made up its mind not to part with the post.JMM chief Shibu Soren met NDA convenor George Fernandes in the morning. Later in the day, he met minister of state for railways Digvijay Singh. But a final and formal response to his demand remained elusive.``We've waited long enough and we're not going to wait any further. We're going to make a formal announcement on our future course of action tomorrow,'' said senior lawyer and JMM MP R.K. Anand. ``We're giving them time till tomorrow,'' added Soren.But the BJP, which has 32 MLAs in the proposed state as against the JMM's 12, is not willing to concede an inch. ``We want an NDA government in Jharkhand with a BJP leader as its chief minister,'' said party secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is in charge of the soon-to-be-formed state. ``We would like the JMM to be part of the government,'' he added.The NDA and the JMM are engaged in a war, waiting for the other to wear itself out. Even though the ruling combine has already taken a position on the matter, it would not like to make a formal announcement. ``We'd rather wait for the JMM to take its first step,'' observed a senior NDA leader.The alliance would, of course, like the JMM to continue with them ``in order to ensure a stable and effective government in the state.'' Till late tonight, efforts were on to convince Soren not to take a drastic step.In his meeting with the JMM leader this morning, Fernandes is learnt to have suggested various formulae as a way out of the deadlock. One of them centred on making Soren the chairman of the NDA coordination committee in the state. The second was offering the deputy chief minister's seat to JMM.But the JMM chief is learnt to have rejected both, and reminded the Defence Minister about the promise made by him earlier this year while seeking his (Soren's) support for making Nitish Kumar the chief minister of Bihar.The JMM chief is keeping all options open. He is said to have spoken to RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav over the phone yesterday.
