There were strong indications that Jharkhand could be headed towards President’s Rule as Chief Minister Shibu Soren today lost the Assembly election from Tamar and said he would consult the UPA and other state allies on his plan of action. A win would have earned him a seat in the Assembly.
“I accept the defeat. I will go to Delhi today or tomorrow and meet the UPA leadership, including RJD President Lalu Prasad, before taking any decision,” Soren said when asked if he would resign now or after meeting the UPA leadership. He lost to rival Enos Ekka’s Jharkhand Party candidate Gopal Krishna Patar.
“I will also meet state UPA chairman Madhu Koda and other allies and seek their suggestions,” Soren added.
Asked if any UPA ally in the state worked “against” him during the polls, Soren said he had trusted every ally during the contest.
Soren, who had resigned on March 11, 2005, during his previous nine-day stint as chief minister, said he had worked hard for development during the last three months that he got to serve as chief minister. Soren and his predecessor Madhu Koda, who is also the chairman of the UPA steering committee in Jharkhand, are likely to leave for New Delhi soon to discuss the development with the UPA High Command.
It was a shaming defeat for Soren as Patar was not very well known.
Settling for no less than the chief minister’s chair, the 65-year-old veteran tribal leader had taken oath on August 27 last after forcing Independent MLA Madhu Koda to step down from office. It was a “good” bargain for Soren after he extended support to the UPA in the trust vote. Patar, representing the Jharkhand Party, defeated the JMM supremo by around 8,000 votes.
A Santhali who flourished in the state’s Santhal Pargana region, the JMM president was initially reluctant to contest from Tamar, an area dominated by Mundas.
The JMM president had come out unscathed from murder and bribery charges in various lower courts in Jharkhand which even led to his resignation from the Union Cabinet in 2006-07.
