Supporters greet Simaria MLA Ram Chandra Ram after he took oath at the Assembly in Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Feb. 8: The struggle of Congress to explore viable alternatives for survival in Jharkhand politics continues, even as CPI legislator Ram Chandra Ram took oath today.

Technically, the CPI is not a constituent of the UPA in the state, but the Congress has great expectations from it.

The Congress is determined to teach the Madhu Koda government lessons to the Koda government despite eating humble pie in Simaria. More than the bypoll setback it is worried about the “tremendous humiliations” it will face in the ensuing budget session of the Assembly if the Koda government pulls on.

AICC general secretary Ajay Maken is likely to submit his final report on Jharkhand in a day or two but the political heavyweights in Delhi are learnt to have worked out two “solutions” for the state.

First, the Speaker will terminate the Assembly membership of at least nine MLAs under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and thereafter the Congress will form an alternative government with the help of RJD and JMM. The second option is to put the state under President’s rule.

But Congress president Sonia Gandhi, according to sources, is opposed to arbitrary use of President’s rule. Thus, her associates are concentrating on the first option.

Lohardaga MP Rameshwar Oraon is being considered for the chief minister’s post.

Though Oraon is a newcomer to power politics, he is being considered as a good administrator. Before joining politics, he was in the Indian Police Service for more than three decades.

As he also happens to be a tribal, his elevation to the chief minister’s chair will also not upset the simple equations of power politics in Jharkhand, the Congress feels.

The Congressmen also feel that the JMM would be silenced automatically after its chief Shibu Soren is given a berth in the Union cabinet. The RJD, too, will be forced to keep mum after Sonia Gandhi intervenes.

In Ranchi, Congress leaders today had a closed door meeting with the Speaker, Alamgir Alam.