Ranchi, March 25: Inder Singh Namdhari is likely to resign as the Speaker to contest the Lok Sabha election from Chatra. Namdhari arrived here from Delhi this afternoon and left for Chatra to attend a meeting.

Janata Dal (United) state parliamentary board chairman Ramchandra Kesri said his party has decided to field Namdhari in Chatra and Indradeo Mahto in Giridih. The names of other candidates will be finalised in a day or two.

According to the JD(U) high command’s decision, Jharkhand ministers interested in contesting the Lok Sabha election will first have to tender their resignation from the Arjun Munda Cabinet. Kesri said the decision has not been amended and Namdhari, too will have to quit the Speaker’s chair before filing his nomination papers.

The Janata Dal-United had demanded Chatra, Koderma, Giridih and Palamau Lok Sabha seats, but the BJP decided to field candidates in all the constituencies. Irked by the decision, the Janata Dal-United has decided to challenge the BJP in some seats.

The JD(U) has eight legislators in Jharkhand. Seven of them are ministers in the Arjun Munda cabinet and Namdhari is the Speaker.

Defence minister George Fernandes advised the Jharkhand legislators to quit the Munda cabinet before contesting the election.

The word of advise silenced most of the JD(U) ministers, who were earlier spewing venom against BJP. Now they are blaming their leaders for the raw deal.

“Since our party has decided to contest all the parliamentary seats in the state, there is no need for our ministers to resign. This will only help the BJP. I am not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha poll. I will campaign for my party candidates,’’ said welfare minister Ramesh Singh Munda. Land revenue minister Madhu Singh also admitted that his party was in a catch-22 situation.