Beleaguered Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi was on Friday night asked by Governor Rama Jois to prove his majority on the floor of the House while rejecting the opposition's claim to form an alternative government headed by Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari.

Jois did not set a time frame but indicated that Marandi must prove his majority before March 31 by when, the governor said in a communiqué, the budget must be passed.

The communiqué came shortly after Marandi got a shot in the arm with top NDA leaders in Delhi ruling out any change of leadership asserting his government still enjoyed majority.

Apparently referring to the 'ultimatum' served by the opposition legislators that Namdhari should be invited by Saturday to form the government, the governor said ‘the occasion to take steps for forming an alternative government has not arisen'.

He said the question of an alternative government could only arise in the event of the Marandi government resigning or if it was voted out through a vote of no-confidence on the floor of the house.