The brutal Naxal attack on frontline leadership of the Congress in neighbouring Chhattisgarh has had its ramifications in Jharkhand as well. For the Congressmen, especially for legislators intending to form a government with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the incident has come as party spoiler.
The party MlAs, who were expecting a certain breakthrough this week after they received "positive signals" in the May 24 meeting with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and others in Delhi, think that the mayhem has made their task a bit difficult.
"The entire party has sunk deep into grief. We are not in a position to take the matter to them. There are lots of issues and modalities which are yet to be settled before tying up with the JMM. How can the party discuss government formation when the central leadership is in shock because of the incident," said Congress MlA from Daltonganj, KN Tripathi.
last week's meeting, latest in the line of several meetings on the issue, had reportedly yielded many positives and the flock had returned with the hope that Jharkhand would see a new government in place sooner than later.
"Of course, we are dazed by the incident and the high command is very disturbed at this point of time. Sonia Gandhi, Rahulji and the Prime Minister were there and other leaders too are in a similar state. The process has certainly received a jolt," said another MlA Sarfaraz Ahmed.
The JMM, however, sees this as just another excuse to keep the party on tenterhooks. "Incidents like Chhattisgarh would keep happening every now and then. This is just another excuse to keep the JMM engaged. The dissatisfaction against the Congress' attitude is growing in the party with each passing day," said JMM legislator Shashank Shekhar Bhokta.
Apart from the unfortunate incident, the Congress is also "worried" about the recent activism shown by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The premier investigation agency has last week sought permission for filing chargesheet in the 2012 horse-trading case that has named several JMM legislators. The JMM see this too as a disturbing signal when talks for alliance are in progress.
"We will see what the CBI does in the days to come. The action would certainly dent the effort of government formation in the State. Both the matters have jointly pushed the effort backward," confessed a senior Congress leader.