Chief minister Arjun Munda flags off the ?Run for Jharkhand? at the State Institute of Rural Development in Ranchi. With him are Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman, cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former Test opener Chetan Chauhan. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, June 26: Three minutes ? that?s the time chief minister Arjun Munda spent running today.

For those on the road, however, it was enough to stop them in their tracks for what seemed an eternity.

The chief minister turned up for ?Run for Jharkhand? before 7 am at OTC Ground near Piska More. Accompanying him was cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni.l

A huge crowd cheered the two as they started their jog. But Munda soon began to feel the heat and the source, for a change, wasn?t a Yashwant Sinha or a Shibu Soren.

The breeze had stopped and the sun seemed less friendly. After about three minutes, Munda chose to call it quits and sped away in his car, after a wave at the crowd, of course.

Vehicles, scores of which waited while Munda jogged, were literally left in the lurch after his departure. The policemen did not seem bothered and left the traffic on its own. The result: a snarl involving cars, two-wheelers and trucks, among other vehicles.

Chaos reigned soon after as motorists shouted at each other in their fight for space.

?The traffic constables stopped us about an hour ago, saying that the chief minister was about to run. If the vehicles were stopped one after the other, there would have been no problems. But the constables did just the opposite. The trucks were stopped in a haphazard manner and the police did not bother to rearrange them,? said a truck driver caught in the mess.

?Now, all of them (policemen) have disappeared. It?s going to be a long wait for us?, he added.

The prediction was correct as vehicles did not move on Ratu Road and at Piska More. ?I don?t think I will be able to attend today?s tuition. Why did the constables run away?? asked Manish Alankar, a student.

Many were hit by two-wheelers when the latter tried to find a way through the maze. ?What can we do? We have waited for more than an hour,? said Subarno Das, a resident of Harmu.