BJP-led coalition forms govt in Jharkhand

Sonia Gandhi's ruling Congress party accepted defeat in the see-saw battle for power and asked its ally Shibu Soren to resign as chief minister.

Elections to Jharkhand state assembly last month produced a hung parliament but Governor Syed Sibtey Razi went ahead and swore in tribal leader Shibu Soren, an ally of Congress, as its chief minister on March 2.

But Soren resigned on Friday night following prodding by Congress leadership after he failed to win a confidence vote in the newly-elected legislature on Friday in compliance with a directive of the Supreme Court.

Sensing the arithmetic in the assembly did not favour them, legislators belonging to Soren's party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and its allies stalled the proceedings of the assembly Friday challenging the Speaker's authority to conduct the trial of strength.

Results of the polls to the 81-member state legislature showed Soren and his Congress allies had won 33 seats while BJP and its partner bagged 36 seats.

While 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, the BJP-led combine had paraded all its 41 MLAs, including five independents, both before the Governor and President APJ Abdul Kalam.

The Governor summoned Soren Friday evening and later appointed Arjun Munda, leader of NDA Legislature Party, as the new chief minister.

After meeting the Governor, Munda told newsmen that he would face a vote of confidence in the House by March 21.