Marandi: No plans

Ranchi, July 3: He has no plans to visit New Delhi in the near future, declared Babulal Marandi on Sunday evening, clearly oblivious to the planned brainstorming on Friday.

He had met the party president L.K. Advani on several occasions during the past few weeks, he said, but neither he had raised issues concerning the party in Jharkhand nor did Advani broach the subject, added Marandi.

The circumstances were different, he explains, and it was not proper to raise other issues. But if he is invited, he would certainly meet the party president and do some plain speaking, he added.

A visibly hurt Marandi declared that he has been rendered ?jobless?. Since he has been given no specific responsibility, he confessed, he was forced to take rest.

He does spend his time meeting his supporters but he is unable to provide them with any ?real relief?. Hundreds of people approach him every day, Marandi said, with complaints related to the functioning of the state government or the party organisation. As an MP, he does call up some of the bureaucrats he is familiar with. But, by and large he now follows a hands-off policy in relation to the party organisation.

He is scared of ?further humiliation?, confesses the former chief minister. Key functionaries in the government as well as the party organisation, he says, have been pointedly ignoring him. He is therefore wary that it is only a matter of time before the bureaucrats, too, would take the cue and publicly rebuff him.

Personal requests by leaders to bureaucrats or public demands, he says, will no longer work unless honest efforts are made to improve the system. ? I am on the bench, a reserve player. I can be summoned by the party any moment, anywhere,? said he, ?whenever they call me to address public meetings, I readily go; but apart from this, I have no responsibility.?

The party organisation functions under the supervision of Rajnath Singh. Arjun Munda is heading the coalition government. At the national level too there are separate functionaries for everything, elaborated Marandi with mock seriousness.

The NDA government in the state, he said, should take the criticism levelled by Yashwant Sinha ?very, very seriously?. If a leader of the stature of Yashwant Sinha complains about something, he must have had strong reasons for doing so, he argued.

The fact that Yashwant Sinha had counselled him to air his grievances within the party, said Marandi, is not relevant. ?I am not fighting against any individual. But I am merely struggling to correct the system that has been crippled.?

While he was not consulted by the party, while appointing the state unit presidents, he informed, Yadunath Pandey, the new president, asked him to furnish a list of people he wanted in the executive body. But Marandi refused to oblige.

The party constitution requires the president to be elected. Failing an election, a consensus should be evolved after holding discussions with all the senior leaders, he held. Instead of seeking lists from individual leaders, declared Marandi, an ?appointed? president should hold joint meetings with the senior leaders and take their suggestion for restructuring the party. ?But then it is Rajnath Singh?s responsibility to ensure all this,? he added innocently.