Floor of the Fourth Assembly presented a whole new spectrum where veterans such as Neelkant Singh Munda and CP Singh rubbed shoulders with green horns and giant killers Kunal Sarangi, Anant Ojha, louis Marandi, Irfan Ansari, Biranchi Narayan, Alok Chaurasia and Badal Patralekh to name a few. In between were those who have had a checkered pattern as far as assuming their membership of the Assembly through electoral process is concerned.
Names like Radha Krishna Kishore, Dinesh Oraon, Stephen Marandi and Ramchandra Chandravansi returned to the House after a break. The list of members also included some latest turncoats who had taken oath as a member of some other party in the Third Assembly and continued in the Fourth on else’s tag. Notable among those were Satyendra Nath Tiwari of Garhwa, Nirbhay Shahabadi of Giridih and Phulchand Mandal of Sindri.
Moreover, enthusiasm of youth spoke from the rooftop. “I have come to seek rights of the people and will do my best to fulfill them,” says Alok Chaurasia of Daltonganj while Bokaro’s Biranchi Narayan adds, “I have turned emotional after entering the biggest temple of democracy. I plead here that practice of taking commission out of the MlA fund would be stopped completely.”
Randhir Kumar of Sarath, who defeated JMM stalwart and Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta vowed to deliver his responsibilities to the people. Irfan Ansari went overboard in suggesting that the government can “fall anytime” before holding him. “Youth have been given a greater role to play this time which was need for the State like ours.”
Another underdog and giant killer Badal Patralekh took his fighter figure along in claiming that despite being in the Opposition camp, he would work collectively for the sake of development of the State. While gentle Anant Ojha pleaded to take high morals all through his political voyage. Raj Paliwar of Madhupur unlike his other companions took oath in Maithili. As many as 54 new faces have been chosen to the House this time.
The bunch at the same missed some of the heavyweights of Jharkhand politics. BJP leader and three-time Chief Minister Arjun Munda was a notable omission followed closely by two-time deputy Chief Minister and AJSU chief Sudesh Kumar Mahto, veterans Samresh Singh, Simon Marandi, Binod Singh and Anant Pratap Deo.
“We all have to respect the verdict and mandate the people have given. It is paramount in a parliamentary democracy,” said Chandra Prakash Choudhary when asked how he would miss his party AJSU’s boss Sudesh Mahto. Choudhary has been made Minister in the Raghubar Das’ Cabinet.
JVM’s Pradeep Yadav, a known face in the House, while congratulating the new members refuted murmurs about his party merger with the BJP and also denied extending any kind of outside or inside support to the BJP-headed Government.