Jharkhand: What's common between Madhu Koda and Raghubar Das
Raghubar Das and his party BJP may take umbrage; if they are asked to search for a common between the governments that they formed today in Ranchi, and the one that Madhu Koda led for 23 months from September 2006 to August 2008.
Raghubar Das, who took over as Jharkhand’s tenth chief minister today, will do everything to appear opposite of Madhu Koda, whose government is considered the most corrupt that Jharkhand has seen so far. Koda, who was earlier arrested in a disproportionate assets case by state vigilance bureau, is also facing a money-laundering case.
But Raghubar Das still shares something in common with Madhu Koda - the AJSU legislator Chandra Prakash Choudhary as minister in his cabinet. When Raghubar Das on Sunday swore-in a small cabinet of four; leaving eight berths for the future, he had to induct the AJSU MLA. For better or worse, the Raghubar government depends upon the AJSU for its survival.
While political observers have always bracketed independents as the cause for the frequent changeovers of government in Jharkhand in the past; the BJP’s current alliance partner, the AJSU party has surely been the biggest beneficiary of the political instability in the state.
Of the nine governments that Jharkhand has seen so far, the AJSU has been a part of six. The AJSU chief Sudesh Mahto has been a minister in five of these governments, being a part of every NDA government in Ranchi.
When Madhu Koda led a pack of independents to oust Arjun Munda government in September 2006; Mahto astutely stayed in the opposition camp along with the BJP while Choudhary joined Madhu Koda government. It was a shrewd strategy, ensuring the best of the both worlds for the AJSU. While Sudesh earned accolades for sitting in the opposition with the BJP, the AJSU simultaneously enjoyed the spoils of power with Choudhary as a minister in Madhu Koda government. Now Raghubar Das is forced to keep company of friends known for their convertible conscience.
Though Choudhary was third among the ministers who took oath of office in Ranchi on Sunday, he is likely to be the second most powerful man in Raghubar Das cabinet according to the unwritten pecking order.
The BJP may have secured its all-time highest tally of 37 MLAs in Jharkhand, but only just. It still does not have the luxury to pick and choose names from alliance partner, the AJSU for cabinet ministers, as the saffron party still five short of a simple majority in the 82-member Jharkhand Assembly.
The good news for the BJP is that the AJSU does have those five legislators; but the bad news is that this makes Raghubar Das, who took over as Jharkhand’s tenth chief minister today, dependent upon alliance partner for the survival of his government, an unenviable option given the AJSU’s less than impressive track record as alliance partner.
Chandra Prakash Choudhary, who became leader of the AJSU legislature party because his party chief Mahto lost his seat, is a man with a chequered past.
In October 2009, an income tax raid in the house of Manoj Kumar Singh, a former personal assistant of Chandra Prakash Choudhary, yielded fixed deposits in banks worth Rs 14 crores and official files related to Choudhary’s department. In August 2010, when Jharkhand High Court asked the CBI to probe the assets of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda and some of his ministers, Choudhary was in the list along with Anosh Ekka, Dulal Bhuiyan, Kamlesh Singh, Bhanu Pratap Sahi and Bandhu Tirkey.
Chandra Prakash Choudhary was once again under the CBI scanner in May 2012 when the sleuths raided his house and office for his alleged involvement in Rajya Sabha cash for vote scam.
Though various agencies have proved nothing against Choudhary so far, they have not given any clean chit to him either. The inconclusive probes over the years are also a telling testimony to the agencies incompetence as well as Choudhary slice of luck. Chandra Prakash Chaudhary, 45, has emerged as the AJSU’s senior most legislator after Sudesh Mahto met a crushing defeat at home ground Silli. With Mahto, who has twice been deputy chief minister before, ruled out from ministerial berth after his defeat, Choudhary, who is also related to Sudesh, was his party’s natural choice for the most important ministerial portfolio that the BJP will spare for the AJSU.
Unlike Centre, where the BJP has simple majority of its own and therefore cannot be hemmed in by the alliance partners; the circumstances in Jharkand make it incumbent upon the BJP to accommodate the AJSU's wishes to run its government.
But, if the BJP today finds itself in an uncomfortable situation being dependent on the AJSU, it should blame itself for performing below its potential in the just concluded Assembly polls. Only six months back, the BJP while winning 12 of Jharkhand 14 Lok Sabha seats had maintained a lead in 56 Assembly constituencies in Jharkhand. The proximity of the two elections made everyone hope that the outcome of Lok Sabha election would retain its impact on the Assembly poll. But, the BJP's own tally in the Assembly is 19 less than the party's Lok Sabha performance.
Party insiders also claim that the two senior leaders Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das, who were understandably desperate to win the central leadership’s confidence, did not dispute when state organisational leadership fielded some undeserving and questionable candidates. The poor selection of candidates put paid to the BJP’s chances of winning a simple majority of its own. For instance, the BJP fielded Lalchand Mahto as its candidate in Dumri seat, apparently ignoring his questionable credentials.
Mahto, then a JD(U) legislator and very unpopular energy minister in Jharkhand’s first government, was the architect behind a mini revolt in the NDA that forced BJP drop Babulal Marandi as Jharkhand chief minister in March 2003. Before this incident, the government was going smooth in Jharkhand. But, Lalchand Mahto along with other JD-U and Samata party ministers was responsible for Jharkhand the first political upheaval.
Mahto, who remained energy minister in the subsequent NDA government led by Arjun Munda, joined the RJD on election eve. He, however, lost 2005 and 2009 Assembly polls. Still, the BJP found him worthy of a BJP ticket from Dumri. He ultimately lost by over 32,000 votes.
The BJP’s alliance with the AJSU also cost them the Silli seat, as Amit Kumar who finally defeated Sudesh in Silli as a JMM candidate was earlier in the BJP but switched to Hemant Soren’s JMM camp only after the saffron party stitched an alliance with the AJSU. In Nala seat, the BJP retained Satyanand Jha as the party candidate, though the former minister has been in the eye of a controversy since a woman moved the state commission for women in August 2012, claiming to be his second wife and accusing him of dumping her and their son. The BJP ignored the controversy and paid the price as Jha lost the Nala seat by over 17,000 votes.
Though the BJP claimed fighting for good governance, it fielded the JMM discard Simon Marandi, the man who was once involved in the JMM bribery case, from Littipara. Marandi lost by over 25,000 votes. Another former JMM man Hemlal Murmu lost from Barhait despite Narendra Modi pitching for him in a campaign meeting there. In capital Ranchi, the BJP forced alliance partner, the AJSU to leave its sitting Hatia seat and fielded Seema Sharma, an unknown face and mysterious party favourite while ignoring committed party workers from the constituency.
The AJSU sitting MLA Naveen Jaiswal finally retained the seat on a JVM ticket. The loss at Hatia should sting more pointedly for the saffron party, as the BJP state headquarters in Harmu falls under Hatia seat. The list of glaring errors that the BJP made in the run up to the poll is long enough.
In many ways, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP chief, Amit Shah couldn’t attend Raghubar Das swearing-in today owing to the dense Delhi fog on Sunday, it seemed just blessing in disguise. After all, the BJP top bosses did not have to watch Raghubar Das begin a tenure under alliance partner the AJSU's thumb.