Ranchi, March 24: Former land revenue minister and one of the coup masterminds, Madhu Singh, who led the final assault on Babulal Marandi, on Sunday decried the Opposition’s move to refuse to accept a non-tribal as the chief minister.

Singh branded them “traitors” and said the refusal of the tribal MLAs to accept a non-tribal as the chief minister forced them to switch loyalties from the NDA camp to the Opposition and again back to the NDA.

Singh said tribal MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JMM had gone back on their words to oppose the elevation of Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, a non-tribal, as the next chief minister of Jharkhand. “This forced us to rework our strategies and left us with no other option but to go back to the NDA fold in the larger interest of the state,” Singh said.

The former minister told The Telegraph that 24 hours before the D-day, a secret conclave was held at Ranchi in which they unanimously agreed to bring down the Babulal Marandi government and project Namdhari as the next chief minister. Singh said besides the entire Opposition, all the seven rebel ministers attended the conclave.

According to Singh, on March 13, seven rebel ministers switched allegiance to the Opposition camp reducing the Marandi government to a minority. He said even a cut-motion on the sanction of grants to the industry department fell by a “voice vote” in the Assembly.

As part of the deal, Singh said, a memorandum addressed to Governor M. Rama Jois was immediately drafted intimating him of the fall of the Marandi government on the floor of the Assembly. They also made a formal request to call Namdhari to form the next government in the state. The memorandum said since 42 out of an effective strength of 79 MLAs, barring the Speaker, had put their signatures accepting Namdhari as their leader, Marandi was in a clear minority and had no right to continue in office any more.

However, Singh said even as Opposition MLAs along with the seven rebels started trooping down to Raj Bhavan to press for a change of guard, two Congress legislators Sawna Lakra and Deo Kumar Dhan followed by other tribal MLAs from the Congress and the JMM stressed that they would never accept a “non-tribal” as the chief minister of Jharkhand. “This was a clear act of betrayal by the Opposition MLAs since Namdhari’s candidature had earlier been unanimously endorsed by the entire Opposition, including the tribal members,” Singh said.

The former minister said at a time when Namdhari was poised to become the chief minister the sudden betrayal by a section of the Opposition forced them to rework their strategies. “All of us immediately decided that enough was enough. We agreed that since our demand to elevate Namdhari was meeting with strong opposition, we should go back to the NDA fold in the larger interest of the state and its people,” Singh said.

“The Opposition, which is now crying foul, should recount the events of March 14 before levelling charges against us,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, confirming Singh’s assertions, Congress sources said on March 14, at least 16 legislators belonging to the BJP, the JMM and the Congress also met secretly to oppose the candidature of a non-tribal as the next chief minister.