M A I N   N E W S

Bypoll loss may force Soren out
Sanjay Singh
Tribune News Service

Luck eluded ‘Guruji’ on many occasions Luck has been an elusive commodity whenever Soren came to power. When he was appointed as a union minister for the first time in May 2004, he had to quit within a couple of months following a non-bailable warrants against him in an old case of carnage at Chirudih. He had to surrender in a court at Jamtara and go to jail. And when he became a union minister for the second time, he had to quit in October 2006 following his conviction and imprisonment for life on the murder charge of his personal assistant Shahshinath Jha. He was acquitted in 2007.

Patna, January 8
Luck seems to have eluded Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren once again as he lost the crucial bypoll from Tamar Assembly constituency today.

Soren’s victory in this by-election was a must for his continuance as Chief Minister. Now that he has lost the polls, the UPA, in all likelihood, would ask him to put in his papers at the earliest and support Madhu Koda as the next Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

The RJD, an important ally of UPA, has already given indications about renomination of Koda as the Chief Minister. If this happens, it would be the second time that Soren would be making a premature exit from the post of Jharkhand Chief Minister.

For the first time, Soren was sworn in as the Chief Minister in March 2005 but had to quit the post within a week as he could not prove majority in the house. He was appointed second time in August 2008, reportedly in lieu of the support extended by his party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), to the UPA government at the Centre during the crucial confidence motion in the Lok Sabha after the Left parties withdrew their support.

Madhu Koda, an Independent MLA who was appointed as CM by the UPA in Jharkhand, was forced to quit the post and make way for Soren, commonly referred as 'Guruji' in his native state. Since Guruji was not a MLA, he had to be elected from any of the Assembly constituencies and become a member of the house within six months.

Guruji got a chance to contest from Tamar constituency after the seat fell vacant in the wake of the killing of sitting JD (U) MLA Ramesh Singh Munda, allegedly by the outlawed Naxal outfit MCCI. But, Soren lost the electoral battle and his six months tenure is scheduled to end on February 26, 2009.