New Delhi:
The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, led by Babulal Marandi, has withdrawn the support of its two MPs to the UPA government. The JVM was part of the UPA. Though this will not impact the stability of the government, the JVM's withdrawal of support comes two weeks after a major UPA ally, the Trinamool Congress, pulled out of the alliance.
The reason for JVM's withdrawal is the same as the Trinamool's; against FDI in retail and the hike in diesel prices.
Mr Marandi is Santhal (tribal) leader from Jharkhand and was also the first chief minister of Jharkhand after it was created after splitting Bihar in 2000. He was CM for three years. Mr Marandi has had a long association with the BJP and was also the Cabinet minister at the Centre during the NDA's rule. He is also credited winning the NDA 14 of the 18 Lok Sabha seats in the Jharkhand area when it was still part of Bihar, in the 1998 elections.
But he was ousted from the Chief Minister's position due to alliance pressures and became marginalised, even though the NDA was in power in Jharkhand. In the 2004 election, he was the only NDA MP to win; many BJP stalwarts like Yashwant Sinha lost their seats.
Mr Marandi finally broke away from the NDA in 2006 and floated the JVM and won the Koderma assembly seat. In 2009, he won the Lok Sabha election from the same constituency.