Clouds are hovering over success of the March 23 meeting of Jharkhand MPs with Governor Syed Ahmed and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh. Things were darker on Thursday, with the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) pulling out. The party, with two members in the lok Sabha, has called such a meet undemocratic and also demanded from other MPs to follow suit by boycotting it.
The decision of the party has come when just a day is left for the meeting and the Cabinet coordination department of the State Government has started issuing letters to all members from both Houses of Parliament hailing from Jharkhand.
“Such a meeting being called by the Governor is undemocratic in nature. It is akin to forming a parallel system. Instead of dissolving the Assembly and holding fresh polls, the Congress is trying to rule the State from Delhi,” said JVM legislature party leader Pradeep Yadav.
“We will boycott the meeting and demand the same from others. Otherwise they will be blamed for continuation of President’s Rule,” he warned.
The meeting was called after MPs hailing from the State had complained of lack of consultation by the Governor before initiating any developmental works in their constituencies. Replying to the objections in
the lok Sabha, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had agreed to give the unprecedented understanding get a chance. Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has been deputed for the Saturday meeting.
“Our party MPs never raised the demand to hold such a meeting. We are for any mechanism that is in the conformity with the set constitutional procedures. Perhaps nowhere in the country exercise of this kind would have taken place ever. It is being done because they think Jharkhand is a weaker State. The Congress wants to rule the State from behind,” added Yadav.
The party also thinks that the latest effort — and other steps taken ahead of approval of the annual Budget and after it — are to shift attention from real issues engulfing Jharkhand. The MlA was particularly critical of the decision of the Governor to present a full Budget in Parliament and speedier nods being given to the projects belonging to corporate.
The Pioneer had reported about majority of MPs representing Jharkhand in Parliament are likely to give the meeting a miss citing various reasons. Now when one of the major political parties of the State has made it official, chances to get something substantial out of the meet are very bleak.
The JMM, desperate to form an alternative Government, is yet to take a decision over it. “We will decide on the issue tomorrow,” said JMM spokesman Supriyo Bhattacharya.
Party sources said the JMM may utilise the occasion to express its displeasure and exert pressure on the Congress.
BJP State president Ravindra Rai, however, said party MPs will attend the meet. “We are, in principle, against President’s Rule. But it is Centre’s rule, in effect and that is the truth. We all have to accept it. Jharkhand was totally ignored in the Budget presented in Parliament. So, we had raised the demand to bring about transparency in governance even during President’s Rule.”
Chatra parliamentarian Inder Singh Nandhari is also likely to attend the meet.