BJP protests Niel Tirkey appointment as convenor

BJP protests Niel Tirkey appointment as convenor

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi Saturday, April 5, 2008

The newly formed five-member committee to ascertain who actually constitute the tribal groups in the State in the wake of the decision of the Supreme Court is running under bad weather. The formation of the committee is being questioned both on the constitutional as well as the political ground. While on the one hand, some of the MLAs feel that the State Government have no locus standi to form any such committee, only Parliament and the President have the right to form committee to ascertain who actually belong to the tribal group. On the other hand, the BJP has raised opposition on the appointment of Niel Tirkey as the convenor of the committee owing to his known protest to form any such committee that could damage the interest of the tribals converted to Christianity (TCC). Hence, the tussle between the Sarna tribes and the tribals converted to Christianity has started taking a political colour. There are nearly 10 BJP MLAs belonging to Sarna tribes. They have accused the Government, including Jharkhand Assembly speaker Alamgir Alam, for BJP fears that the said committee would be biased in the favour of him, since it was headed by Tirkey who was opposed to formation of any such committee that could harm the interest of TCC group in the State. BJP MLA Karia Munda said instead appointing Tirkey, the Government should have appointed a non-tribal to head the committee. A fair deal cannot be expected in a case if a person of known mindset heads the committee and this issue would not die out unless the corrections were made in the decision.The present committee constitutes each of two MLAs from Sarna tribe and converted Christian - Tirkey and Susila Hansda (JMM) belong to converted groups and Chandresh Oraon (BJP), and Ramesh Singh Munda (JDU) represent Sarna tribes. Ramchandra Chandrabansi of the RJD is the only lone non-tribal member of the group. While justifying his decision to appoint Tirkey to head the committee, Alam said that he maintained proper balance in forming the committee and he acted in an impartial manner in deciding the name. What else I could do if the MLAs do not allow the house to run smoothly, he said. However, he accepted that appointing a neutral person as the convenor of the committee could be a good idea. But I would ensure that the committee works with fair mind, he said. The committee would submit a report whether TCC indeed left their tradition, mode of worship and other rituals and do they fall within the purview of the decision of the SC that debar any tribal from availing the privileges meant for tribals.

State BJP shows its chink again, MLAs rush to Delhi

State BJP shows its chink again, MLAs rush to Delhi

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi

The internal bickering in Jharkhand BJP does not seem to die down. The fire lit by former State president and Jamshedpur East MLA Raghuvar Das on March 31 (by assuring to support the Ranchi bandh) was not extinguished properly, and now he has kicked off a new storm. It is learnt that nearly 10 MLAs are presently camping at Jamshedpur and would go to New Delhi with Raghuvar Das on Saturday. The fresh demand of Das along with 10 other MLAs before BJP high command Raj Nath Singh and LK Advani would be to remove State president Pasupati Nath Singh from the post of the State BJP president. Highly placed sources confirmed Das is backed up by the some of the top disgruntled leaders of the party. Meanwhile, two of the party MLAs named Ramchandra Baitha, MLA from Kanke and Kedar Hazra MLA from Jamua, have already confirmed that they were camping in New Delhi. The odd 11 of the BJP includes Raghubar Das, Chatruram Mahto, Yogeswar Mahto, Ramchandra Baitha, Loknath Mahto, Putkar Hembram, Nilkanth Singh Munda, Koche Munda, Sameer Oraon and Chandres Oraon.However, party spokesperson Viranchi Naraya cited another reason behind "rushing of the MLAs" and said they have gone to Delhi to participate in a party programme to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first freedom struggle of India that took place in 1857. Meanwhile, the party sources confirmed about the ongoing confrontation between the Das and the Arjun Munda camp, which had been visible since last year. The sources indicated that Raghubar Das wanted to be the state president of the party, which would weaken the control of Munda from party since PN Singh is stated to be close to Munda camp. The Munda camp is also closely monitoring the entire issue and waiting for the next move of these MLAs.

BJP felicitates RMC ward councillors

Vijay Deo Jha Thursday, April 3, 2008

Realising the importance of newly elected RMC councillors, the State BJP tried for a political baptism of 15 of them by felicitating them by two of its prominent leaders, including its national vice-president, Yaswant Sinha and Arjun Munda. However, only 11 councillors could turn up for being felicitated. It also seems that the party leaders are trying to correct two political mistakes made during the RMC election - one by not supporting anyone in the election and another by extending support to the Ranchi bandh in support of the defeated candidates. At least, on the issue of Ranchi bandh, the party had a tough time to explain to the people. It was already exposed how an individual leader of the party announced the party supporting the strike which was far from the reality. That's why the party hurriedly decided to felicitate some 15 newly elected councillors who are close to the party ideology. Out of 15 there are at least four such councillors including Sanjeev Vijayvarjee, Sunil Yadav, Sunita Devi and Veena Devi who are the office-bearers of the party as claimed by Gama Singh, the district president of the party. But, Singh denies calling it a face saving exercise and maintains the party had already decided to felicitate them just after the announcement of the result. However, some of the state leaders were apparently clueless about this programme including Arjun Munda who got this information through media sources. The senior party functionaries including the State president PN Singh were absent from the felicitation function due to their pre engagement, as said by PN singh.But the issue of 'no support in RMC election' and some of the party leaders taking unilateral decision to support Ranchi bandh have not died down yet. The central leadership had asked the State leaders to find the possibility of fighting the RMC election on the party line which was agreed by the State BJP. But on finding the directives of the Government not to allow this election on the party line the State BJP decided to extend backdoor support to any of its candidates which could not materialise. However, Viranchi Narayan, the party spokesperson denied that the party was any more defensive about it, but, the sources say that in the next week the party would discuss all these issue. But, at present, the party sees the RMC election as a great achievement.