Putting curtains on the political drama continuing in the Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM), six out of eight of its legislators formally joined the BJP on Wednesday at Jharkhand Bhawan in New Delhi in presence of Chief Minister Raghubar Das and party’s State unit president Ravindra Rai. The MlAs included Naveen Jaiswal, Alok Chaurasia, Amar Kumar Bauri, Ganesh Ganjhu, Janki Prasad Yadav and Randhir Singh.
The merger in any case was just a formality after the breakaway faction had already approached the Assembly Speaker informing him about snapping their association with the JVM. As no technicality was involved since the group comprised 2/3 strength of the Babulal Marandi-led party the BJP went ahead preponing the formality. Earlier, the joining was to be done in the presence of BJP national president Amit Shah after his return to Delhi from Ahmedabad on Wednesday evening.
Top sources in the party said that with the completion of ‘Mission 42+’, the way has been paved for expanding the Cabinet and in all likelihood it would take place on February 13 after the return of Governor Syed Ahmed who is Delhi to attend meeting of Governors at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The joining at the same time also fastened the pace of Assembly secretariat in handling the applications of the MlAs pending with it and also the one which came from the JVM. “We have moved the file after putting all the records.
If not by today evening, the decision (to recognise the faction as a separate group and stamp its merger with the BJP) would be taken on Thursday for sure,” Assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon told The Pioneer. Responding quickly, the JVM wrote to the Speaker to end the membership of Randhir Singh and Janki Prasad Yadav citing their “anti-party activities.”
Far away in Delhi, after garlanding the MlAs and welcoming them into the party fold smiling Ravindra Rai said, “Six of the eight MlAs of the JVM wanted to divide the party and merge it into the BJP. The merger has been done to make the Government in the State even stronger. This would end the instability for ever and has upped the confidence of the Chief Minister.”
Rai, on the occasion, also mocked JVM supremo Babulal Marandi, terming him a person walking “behind the time” and said that now nothing had left into his party. “We are not thinking about anything or anyone but only concerned about the interest of Jharkhand,” he said. Before leaving for Ranchi Raghubar Das said that his only goal was development of the State and he was not going to deviate by the Opposition’s attempt to malign Government’s image.
At the same time after riding the BJP’s bandwagon the MlAs sung development tune in chorus. “All the six MlAs have taken the decision to merge with the BJP for the wellbeing of the people of the State which has been deprived of in last 14 years. We are sure that leadership of Narendra Modi and Raghubar Das would be able to do this for Jharkhand,” said Hatia MlA Naveen Jaiswal, who is leading the flock.
Whereas Amar Kumar Bauri termed it a “hard step” taken to provide stability to the BJP Government by providing it full majority so that “it can work for the welfare of the 3.25 crore people of Jharkhand. We want to put Jharkhand in the lines of developed States.” Simaria’s Ganesh Ganjhu expressed his helplessness in developing his constituency by remaining in the JVM and thus “his joining the BJP became essential.”
Randhir Singh of Sarath looked in pain seeing the “difficulty the BJP was facing in Government formation” and thus decided to back it, of course, for development of the State. Similarly, first-timer in the Assembly Alok Chaurasia of Daltonganj who is barely 25-year-old was also worried for the development of his area and after winning polls on JVM’s ticket suddenly realised that it can be done only by walking along the BJP.