Governor dismisses Soren, invites Munda

Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi tonight dismissed Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren and invited Arjun Munda, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal combine to form a government after a day of mayhem in the Assembly. The governor conveyed his decision to Soren late tonight.

Reacting to the turn of events, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Left parties here that he was unhappy with what had taken place in Jharkhand where the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) legislators refused to let the Assembly function.

After adjourning the House four times, the pro-tem Speaker Pradip Kumar Balmuchudecided to postpone the test of strength to March 15, which was the original date.

The UPA government held a late night meeting of its political affairs committee here, which decided that, as Soren had been unable to cobble together a majority, he should be asked to resign. He was reported to be have been obdurate and so, was dismissed.

The question bedevilling the UPA was how to save face in a deeply embarrassing situation. By late evening, several ministers, including Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, were trying to explain to the government that as the Supreme Court had directed a test of strength today, and that it had not been held, it should be held as soon as possible.

The Left parties met the Prime Minister and told him to "do the right thing"""that is, if Soren was unable to form a government, call others who were in a position to do so.

In asking Soren to quit, the government has had to swallow a great deal of pride, but a minister explained that if it had imposed President's rule unilaterally and prevented the BJP-JD(U) from being given a chance, the public mood, which "saw the NDA parading 41 MLAs before the President", would have turned "totally against us".

In Ranchi, Jharkhand capital, tension was palpable.

In Parliament, Opposition NDA demanded that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee discuss the issue. The Speaker allowed a discussion, only on the condition that it would not set a precedent.

The BJP and its allies, the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena, said democracy was being murdered in Jharkhand, while the Samajwadi Party, which is opposed to the NDA and is supporting the UPA, chose to back the latter on this issue.

Probably apprehending that Uttar Pradesh, where the party is in power, could be next in line for a central take-over, SP's Mohan Singh put up a spirited defence of the NDA's position.

"Despite the fact that only yesterday, the NDA held a massive rally in Lucknow against our party's government in UP, we are with the NDA on this matter," said Singh.

He added that the deliberate disruption of the House in Ranchi was against the spirit of the Constitution. The CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta also criticised the postponement of the floor test for the Soren government, but added that the "hijacking" of Jharkhand MLAs to Jaipur was also not correct.

Finally, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee made a statement on the issue, saying that "the UPA government had nothing to with what was happening inside the Jharkhand Assembly".