Sonia not keen on toppling Munda government

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi would prefer fresh elections to installing a UPA government in Jharkhand by toppling the Arjun Munda-led NDA government. She was reported to have said this at a meeting with CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury today.

Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi, meanwhile, has given Munda seven days to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly.

"My government is in the majority. I am confident of proving my strength. I am hopeful that I will be given a chance. The House should be convened," the chief minister said after meeting the governor in Ranchi.

"I reminded the governor of how the Supreme Court, in in the SR Bommai case, held that the floor of the House was the perfect place to prove majority," he said.

Yechury, who was called by Gandhi to discuss the situation in Jharkhand, also opposed any attempt to install a UPA government, saying it would involve horsetrading.

According to Congress sources, Yechury said those leading the rebellion now were instrumental in installing an NDA government in the first place and so could not be trusted to provide a stable government.

Gandhi is, however, under pressure from within the Congress and from the UPA constituents to install a UPA government. Union Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren and Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay from the Congress, the two contenders for the chief ministership, are in the forefront of opposing fresh elections.

The NDA government, which enjoyed a wafer-thin majority in the 81-member Assembly was reduced to a minority yesterday after four ministers, Madhu Kora, Harinarain Rai and Enos Ekka, all Independents, resigned along with Kamlesh Singh of the NCP.

Before this, the NDA had 43 MLAs as against 39 of the UPA.