RANCHI, India, 13 March 2005 —Bharatiya Janata Party’s Arjun Munda yesterday took oath as the new chief minister of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand after unseating incumbent Shibu Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Soren, who resigned late Friday night on the direction of the federal government, is unhappy over the treatment meted out to him by the United Progressive Alliance leadership.
Munda took oath at the Morabadi Ground here at noon. Gov. Sibte Razi asked Munda to prove his party’s majority in the house of 81 by March 21. Five other independent legislators also took oath with Munda. They are Madhu Koda, Enos Ekka, Sudesha Mahato, Chandra Praksh Choudhary and Hari Narayan Rai.
BJP President Lal Krishna Advani and George Fernandes of the Janata Dal-United were among those who attended the ceremony.
Soren resigned late last night after a lot of persuasion from the Congress party. Soren, who was sworn in as chief minister on March 2, refused to hand in his resignation during an hour-long meeting with Gov. Razi at the Raj Bhawan on Friday evening.
Only after a lot of persuasion by Congress leaders, he announced his resignation at a press conference near midnight, the deadline set by the Supreme Court for completing a trial of strength on the floor of the assembly.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has been claiming that Soren’s swearing-in was undemocratic as he did not have the required number of 41 lawmakers in the house to form government.
Soren himself had been circumspect about the exact number of MLAs in his alliance, claiming they numbered 41 and again at times putting the figure at 42.
Munda, who had been chief minister for close to four years, met the governor past midnight and was handed the appointment letter.
Munda had moved the Supreme Court complaining he had been wrongfully denied an invitation to form a government in spite of the support of 41 members in the house.
In an interview with Indo-Asian News Service, Munda said he is ready to initiate a dialogue with Maoist guerrillas in the state as he begins a second term.
“We are ready to initiate a dialogue with extremists. But the talks will take place in a framework of law and they should give up armed struggle,” Munda, a tribal leader, told IANS.
“I appeal to the extremists to give up arms and join the mainstream of society and participate in the development of the state.”
Maoist activities have become a major headache for successive administrations in the state, and over 510 people have been killed in Maoist violence since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.
Authorities say Jharkhand is the second worst hit state after Andhra Pradesh, with the united Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) active in almost all parts of the state, running a virtual parallel administration in some places.
Munda also spoke about a variety of other issues, mostly related to the economic development of the state.
“My priority is to provide good and transparent governance which will help in the development of the state.
“First of all we will carry forward the work started by us. Our focus will be at different levels. How to generate employment, remove poverty, develop infrastructure and other things.”
— Additional input from Indo-Asian News Service
