Ranchi:
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibhu Soren staked claim to form the government in Jharkhand on Saturday.
At the Governor's house, Soren was accompanied by Yashwant Sinha, Anant Kumar, Raghuwar Das, Arjun Munda of BJP and Sudesh Mahto of the All-Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).
So far, there has been no word from the Governor.
While Soren's JMM has 18 of the 81 seats, the BJP and allies have 20 MLAs and the All Jharkhand Students Union has joined the combine with its 5 MLAs. One Independent MLA has also offered unconditional support. That gives the alliance 44 MLAs, three more than the halfway mark at 41 in the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly.
Over the past three days since the Jharkhand elections threw up a hung assembly, the BJP and the Congress were lobbying to form the government. The deal has finally been struck with the BJP, which agreed to give the chief ministership to Soren as against the Congress.
Interestingly, the BJP was gunning for Soren on the issue of tainted ministers, when he was a central minister during the UPA's first term. The taint is still there, so the BJP is struggling to explain its change of stance. Here's NDTV's conversation with newly-elected BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Q: How can you ally with Shibu Soren, when the BJP had campaigned against him when he was a UPA minister?
A: I have already deputed Ananth Kumar and Karuna Shukla. Rajnath Singh is there too. They should be able to answer this question.
Q: As party president, you have to tell us the party's stand on this issue.
A: You cannot mandate me to answer this question.
However, it is still unclear if the BJP will be part of the government or support Soren from the outside. The Congress admits it could not rustle up the numbers to form the government. But many say that's better than taking the support of smaller parties who would have flexed their muscles.