Ranchi:
An isolated Shibu Soren on Sunday night resigned as Jharkhand Chief Minister after failing to get the support of Congress and its ally Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) JVM(P) ahead of Monday's trust vote in the Assembly. (
Read: Shibu Soren's profile)
Soren met Governor M O H Farooq and submitted his resignation. Soren has been asked to continue as caretaker Chief Minister till an alternate arrangement is made, Principal Secretary to the Governor Sudhir Tripathi said.
The Governor may send the report to the Centre on the latest situation. Most likely, the Centre is set impose President's rule in this politically unstable state.
With odds stacked against him, Soren, who has been holding on to his post after reneging on a power-sharing deal with the BJP, made overtures to the Congress which was not forthcoming.
"We appealed to the political parties to support the Soren Government in the interest of the state and to prevent imposition of President's rule. Till tonight, nobody has come forward," Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto told reporters at Raj Bhavan after Soren put in his papers.
Earlier, Soren's former ally, BJP issued whip to its MLAs to vote against Soren government. "The whip is issued to all our 18 legislators to vote against the trust vote," BJP spokesman Sanjay Seth said.
The fate of the minority Shibu Soren government was uncertain on the eve of trust vote on Monday as the Congress and its ally JVM(P) kept up the suspense by not spelling out their stand.
Congress leader in the 82-member House, Rajendra Prasad Singh said the party with 14 MLAs would take a decision tomorrow morning in consultation with its ally JVM(P) having eleven legislators.
The JMM, which has 18 MLAs, needed the support of the 42 members to sail through the confidence vote, which was to be taken up in the Assembly at 11 am on Monday. The government had the support of 25 MLAs - JMM-18, AJSU-5 and Independents 2.
BJP with 18 MLAs and JD(U) with two had withdrawn support to the Soren government on May 24 after Soren had backed the UPA government by voting against cut motions sponsored by the opposition in the Lok Sabha.
BJP's decision came after Soren backtracked on a power sharing deal under which Arjun Munda would have led a BJP-led government for 28 months and the JMM would rule for the remaining period.
Last week, the JVM-P leadership said they would vote against the Soren government.
The All Jharkhand Student's Union (AJSU) party had announced its support to Soren.
The strength of the other parties in the house is: RJD - 5, CPI (ML-Liberation) - one, Marxist Coordination Committee - one, Jharkhand Party - one, Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch - one and Independents - two, besides a nominated MLA.
The lone CPI-ML-liberation MLA, Vinod Kumar Singh has already announced to vote against the trust vote. (With NDTV inputs)