New Delhi/Ranchi, Feb. 11: A day afteritshistoric drubbing in Delhi polls, the BJP today chose to quietlyusher in sixMLAs poached from Babulal Marandi's JVM at the state guesthousein the national capitalaway frommedia glare.
At Jharkhand Bhavan, chief minister Raghubar Das, state BJP president Ravindra Rai and party's state in-charge Trivendra Singh Rawat oversaw the induction that gave the ruling party a comfortable simple majority on its own, cushioning it from ally Ajsu's unpredictability, but at the cost of credibility acquired since last May when NaMo swept Lok Sabha polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and a clutch of BJP heavyweights who had bestowed Jharkhand poll campaigns with flattering attention, kept away.
The six MLAs who left JVM to join the BJP today were Navin Jaiswal (Hatia), Ganesh Gounjhu (Simaria), Amar Kumar Bouri (Chandankyari), Alok Kumar Chourasia (Daltonganj), Randhir Kumar Singh (Sarath) and Janki Prasad Yadav (Barkathha). Jaiswal apart, the rest are first-time MLAs from their constituencies.
The induction inflated the BJP's own count from 37 to 43, giving it a comfortable simple majority on its own in the 81-member House plus one nominated MLA. The strength of the ruling BJP-Ajsu combine also went up from 42 to 48, 9 more than the Opposition.
Numbers don't lie but they don't tell the whole truth either.
So, while the Raghubar Das government gained comfort in numbers with six new MLAs today, it also lost something intangible - an ethical, credible image.
Das, perceived as a no-nonsense man who rose through party ranks by dint of hard work, is suddenly looking insecure and power hungry, a lot like the rest of Jharkhand's power brokers.
Around 1.30pm, when Das reached Ranchi's BJP party headquarters at Harmu, he said: "All the new MLAs have joined BJP on their own. This would further strengthen the party and the government in the state."
On Cabinet expansion - Das and four ministerial colleagues have been running the show since December 28, giving rise to speculation that the BJP was shopping for MLAs to escape being at the mercy of "unreliable" ally Ajsu - the chief minister said: "In a couple of days."
Explaining further, Das said: "Our party's national president Amit Shah is busy with his family function (son's marriage). We will hold a formal discussion with him in this regard soon."
Sources said Das came back to Delhi yesterday from Ahmedabad after attending Shah's son's wedding and would have left for Ranchi this morning, but changed his schedule after getting the party's go-ahead to induct the six breakaway MLAs.
"However, Das was asked to keep it a low-key affair," a source close to him said. "The MLAs, who had been herded at a farmhouse that belongs to a senior party MP, were called at short notice to join the party. Induction over, Das flew to Ranchi," he said.
Countering charges of horse-trading to break the JVM, BJP's Rawat said: "We haven't broken any party, these are baseless charges. We are only accepting those who want to contribute significantly to good governance and who believe in the promises that the Das government has made to the state."
Prodded about Marandi, who has been left with only two MLAs, Rawat said the six who left did so out of their free will. "We are only welcoming them warmly," he added.
"The chief minister agreed to take these MLAs on board because he thought it was in the best interests of Jharkhand. There is no other motive behind it," Rawat stressed.
