BJP Appoints Rajnath, Anant Kumar as Central Observers for Jharkhand
Following differences in the party over chief ministerial candidate for Jharkhand, the BJP Parliamentary Board has appointed two senior leaders as Central Observers for hammering out a consensus on the matter so as to be able to stall ‘within a week’, reported PTI.
Senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Ananth Kumar, appointed for the job, will hold discussions on the issue with the party MLAs, report said quoting party sources.
On Saturday, modalities for formation of the government and sharing of cabinet berths were finalized with JMM, however, two BJP leaders – Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das – vied for the top job.
Munda claims support of nine tribal BJP legislators while those supporting Das contends that a non-tribal leader should be CM because JMM leader Hemant Soren is likely to be Deputy Chief Minister.
“The BJP Parliamentary Board has appointed Rajnath Singh and me as Central Observers. We will meet BJP MLAs in Ranchi tomorrow to discuss the issue. Then we will apprise party president Gadkari of their views. An announcement will be made after that,” Ananth Kumar was quoted as saying.
He also expressed confidence that a BJP-led government would be formed in Jharkhand ‘within a week’, said report.
According to report, legislators backing Munda are already in the capital since Sunday and called Singh besides other central leaders to lobby for him.
However, the candidature of former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha has still not been ruled out, and if no consensus is found, he could emerge as the compromise candidate because of his stature, said report quoting sources.
When asked why BJP Parliamentary Board could not finanise its chief ministerial candidate on Monday, Kumar said that the meeting was intended at giving ‘formal acceptance’ to the decision to form a government in Jharkhand after the understanding with JMM and AJSU on Saturday.
“It also ratified that BJP Chief Minister will be for the remaining term of the assembly,” he was quoted as saying.
