DNA Exclusive: Another Maharashtra in offing? Soren-Shah meeting catches eyeballs in Jharkhand

There’s hardly a dull moment in politics if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is involved. Their well-oiled election machinery works round the clock, even when there’s no elections around. Sometimes the BJP also forms the government riding on the fiasco in other parties. Basically, the case in point is Maharashtra where Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde’s government finds a solid backing by the BJP and Devenedra Fdnavis, its biggest face in the state. But it seems the saffron party is not ready to stop at just Maharashtra.

Can Jharkhand be the next spot for a political turmoil?

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s last-week meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and his party JMM’s support to NDA’s presidential election nominee Droupadi Murmu, has given some signs of cracks in the JMM-Congress alliance. 

While the Congress has blamed the BJP of being “relentless” on destabilising governments where it is not in power, the latter has maintained that the collapse of the MVA government was a result of the crisis within the Shiv Sena. 

To prove that it is not “power hungry”, the BJP even projected Sena rebel Eknath Khadse as the chief minister of the state, instead of Devendra Fadnavis who was set for a third term (his second term being as short as 78 hours) as CM.

What further raised speculations of a political fiasco being in the offing in Jharkhand was senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s remark that “it will be Jharkhand and Rajasthan's turn” after Maharashtra. He also said that West Bengal will meet the same fate. 

Officially, the BJP maintains that the meeting between Shah and Soren was nothing out of the ordinary.  But the timing of the meeting is what catches the eyeballs — the JMM is on a sticky wicket on whether it should the BJP’s presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader. Also, the meeting comes at a time when fissures have emerged in its alliance with the Congress in the state. 

JMM tried ‘bargaining’ with Amit Shah: State BJP

Speaking to DNA English, BJP MP Mahesh Poddar said what happened in Maharashtra was a result of “their own doing”, adding that the Shiv Sena diverted from the “agenda of Hindutva” which led to resentment among the Shiv Sainiks. 

“The BJP as the opposition, naturally, cannot allow the system to go haywire. Therefore, it took the responsibility and came forward to prove a government which should be a stable government,” Poddar said. 

“In case of Jharkhand, they (JMM) are confused owing to their reluctance to support Murmu Ji despite their USP of tribal leadership and their claim over tribal vote bank. This reluctance shows that they don’t mean to do what they say,” he added. 

Poddar also claimed that Soren met Amit Shah to “bargain” against his party’s support to Murmu, but that couldn’t be fetched which is why his party might “backtrack”. 

“Maybe they were bargaining for the sake of Droupadi Murmu. They have a long stake of putting the Adivasi movement at stake for their own gains. Earlier, they have put the Jharkhand movement at stake, sold it and diffused it,” Poddar claimed. 

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Alliance with JMM a solid plank: Congress

The Congress, on the other hand, remains confident that the BJP will not find a Maharashtra-like opportunity in Jharkhand, where the JMM-Congress alliance government was “going strong”.

Speaking to DNA English, party’s national spokesperson Anshul Avijit claimed that the BJP has been trying hard to topple the government in Jharkhand since 2019, but has failed in doing so. 

“For the BJP, their intention is to destabilise wherever there is stability. They have no intention of maintaining governance. There is a democratic process of gaining power when you are out of it. But in the last few years, the agencies of the State has been completely weaponised to achieve this goal of destabilisation,” Avijit said. 

In Jharkhand, he claimed, the BJP doesn’t have the numbers and would need about two-third of the Congress to break away. “That cannot possibly happen,” he said. 

On the possibility of Soren joining hands with the BJP, Avijit ruled out the chances saying the “plank was a solid one.” “Jharkhand, I don’t think they are going to destabilise it and I don’t think with 2.5 years ago, it’s really worth it,” he told DNA English. 

“Destabilisation is their default position. So anything else is abnormality for them. Any pursuit of stability or to recognise constitutional processes by which other governments can function, it is abnormal for them to recognise and respect that,” the Congress spokesperson charged.    

Is ‘Jharkhand attempt’ worth for BJP?

Speaking to DNA English, political commentator Amitabh Tiwari said there is a possibility of the BJP making an attempt to topple the government, but he said the party “will not gain much” in doing so.

“There is a cycle, you come to power for 2.5 years and the anti-incumbency will be against you. In that case, the chances of you coming to power for the complete 5 years will be put in danger. And when you form a coalition government, there is always a sense of instability,” Tiwari said.

He recalled the history of BJP’s alliance with JMM and also the fact that the state saw at least 10-12 chief ministerial terms between 2000 and 2012. 

The JMM-Congress combine in Jharkhand had won 25 of the 28 seats in the tribal belt in 2019, while the BJP managed to stake claim to two seats. The JMM has 30, the Congress 16 and the BJP 25 MLAs in Jharkhand’s 81-member legislature.