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Bokaro, May 7: Basking in the fresh glory of winning a Rajya Sabha seat, deputy chief minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren stressed today that there was no threat to the Arjun Munda government, which would, in all probability, complete its full tenure unless an ally did a U-turn.
“There is no permanent friend or foe in today’s politics and one should never take another partner for granted as a coalition government runs on support from all allies. There should be no attempt to force a decision on other parties that will ultimately lead to collision,” said Soren Junior while speaking to The Telegraph in Bokaro steel city. He was in the district to appear at court in a very old case.
But has not the recently held Rajya Sabha poll soured the ties among the ruling alliance partners with BJP suffering a humiliating defeat, and JMM and Ajsu joining hands to ensure Sanjeev Kumar’s victory?
“The JMM has done no wrong. Rather, the BJP’s decision to name a candidate at the last minute was a mistake. It had underestimated JMM’s strength,” Hemant said.
He added that he was happy that party candidate Kumar won the election and sad at the same time that BJP senior leader S.S. Ahluwalia tasted defeat. “I have served in Parliament along with Ahluwalia saheb. We had taken the BJP into confidence before announcing our candidate but it did not return the favour. It first did not put up a candidate and then decided to field Ahluwalia saheb at the last moment. What does this mean?” Hemant asked.
Hemant also brushed aside leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rajendra Singh’s statement that he was the future chief minister of Jharkhand by saying it was just a “gimmick” and did not have any political significance.
“For your information, JMM has held no parleys with Congress regarding formation of an alternative government in Jharkhand. Such news have no relevance as far as I am concerned. The present government is running fine though hiccups did occur when the BJP announced its own candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll,” he said.
Asked whether the JMM will support Ajsu in the Hatia bypoll in return for the favour it showed by voting for Kumar, Hemant refused to make any comment at this juncture. “Let the baby remain in its mother womb,” was all he said.
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