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JMM (Soren) threatens to snap links with NDA

"We must know about NDA's decision before we (JMM legislators) meet in Patna on Wednesday with Member of Parliament Shibu Soren in the chair," a JMM spokesman said in New Delhi.

"We will take a decision one way or another on Wednesday. We are even prepared to sit in the opposition," the spokesman said.

The meeting of the JMM (S) legislature party has been convened to discuss the situation arising out of the Bharatiya Janata Party staking claim to the chief minister's post in Jharkhand, JMM legislature party leader Stephen Marandi said in Patna.

"We will weigh the pros and cons of our continuing in the NDA in the event of the BJP deciding to thrust its chief minister on Jharkhand," Marandi said.

JMM(S) supremo Shibu Soren has been insisting on leading the NDA government in the new state failing which he has threatened to pull out of the alliance.

The BJP with 32 legislators, the largest among the NDA constituents in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, has been maintaining that it was the natural claimant to the chief minister's post.

Marandi said the meeting had been convened after a three-member party delegation, which returned from Delhi on Monday, failed to get an assurance from Union Home Minister L K Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes that Soren would be made chief minister of the new state.

The NDA, with 32 legislators of the BJP, five of Samata Party and three of Janata Dal (United), is dependent on the support of the 12-member JMM(S) to form the government.

In the event of the JMM(S) pulling out, the NDA will have to enlist support of at least one more legislator for a simple majority.

The JMM (S) has no representation in the Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is a member of the Rajya Sabha.

BJP president Bangaru Laxman had stated in New Delhi during the day that there was still time to sort out the issue as the new state would come into being on November 15.

Asked whether BJP would give the post of deputy chief minister to the JMM, Laxman said that no such proposal had come before the party and 'if it comes, we will certainly consider it'.

However, Soren has asserted, "We cannot accept anything less than the chief ministership of Jharkhand."

If JMM was denied the coveted post, it would prefer to occupy the opposition benches in the new assembly rather than enter into any power-sharing arrangement with the BJP, he said, adding "Our party is not power hungry."

"Our claim for the chief ministership is only natural considering the number of years we (JMM) spent fighting for statehood," he said.

JMM had organised a big rally at Ranchi, the headquarters of Jharkhand, last Sunday to press the NDA to fulfil its commitment to install a JMM-led government in Jharkhand.

Soren recalled that his party had extended support in formation of a NDA government in Bihar early this year on the condition that the combine would give the chief ministership of Jharkhand to the JMM.

EARLIER REPORTS
Soren says JMM-S ready to quit NDA

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