Prize head

UPA allies clamour for Ainosh’s head

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi Thursday, December 18, 2008

On Tuesday night Chief Minister Shibu Soren had claimed a decision on belligerent Rural Development Minister Ainosh Ekka would be taken by Wednesday morning, but he has now sought more time to arrive at any final decision. He said he needed two-three more days to seriously ponder over the issue.

Soren seems to be buying time over the removal of Ekka after the refusal of the latter to withdraw his party candidate Raja Peter from the by-election of Tamar Assembly constituency in the favour of Soren.

Soren is however under pressure from within the UPA allies of Jharkhand to drop the Minister after the supplementary budget was passed by the House, the sources said. Soren whose political stature came under the direct firing line would hardly like to invite another political trouble for himself by firing Ekka in between the six-day long winter session which started from Wednesday.

Emerging out after the first day of the winter session of the State Assembly, Soren said on Wednesday: "The decision will not be taken in haste. We need a further consultation among our UPA allies…but a decision could be taken within two or three days." Meanwhile Ekka fired a fresh salvo against the hardening stance of the UPA and said that none of the UPA leaders talked to him on the issue…Soren himself would be responsible for his rout, he said.

Ekka also took a dig at his removal from the Cabinet: "I am saddened that the UPA is still thinking over my removal…they should have removed me long back. They held a meeting but could not come to any conclusion? It distresses me," he said."It is no 'offence' if the Jharkhand Party fielded Raja Peter from Tamar. It was well within the knowledge of him (Soren) who gave me a go-ahead signal", he said.

His stand was partially vindicated by independent MLA and Water Resource Minister Kamlesh Kumar Singh who accepted that Ekka executed the decision to put up Peter for the election only after Soren stated clearly his decision not to contest from Tamar. But he said: "It is very much reasonable when a Chief Minister is in the fray other allies of the Government should not jeopardize his electoral prospects." Ekka who came to attend the Assembly session without his official vehicle indicated the days of political honeymoon was over and it was to time to lock horns with Soren in the battlefield of Tamar.

From here he directly drove to Tamar for campaign leaving the UPA partners to hold another meeting on Wednesday to bundle him out politically. On finding it hard to tame the defiant Minister who on Tuesday the UPA dared fold to take all recourses to make the Chief Minister win; the UPA has been forced to play out a more finely calibrated strategy than mere conventional trading of charges.

The splintered view within the UPA however cited that it was best to concentrate on election strategy and winning 'independent friends' to isolate Ekka