Rajya Sabha approves President's rule in Jharkhand

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha on Tuesday approved the proclamation of President's Rule in Jharkhand where former Chief Minister Arjun Munda had resigned after his government was reduced to a minority in January.

Jharkhand was brought under President's Rule for the third time since its formation 12 years ago on January 18 after JMM withdrew support from the BJP-led government there.

The House approved the proclamation of President's Rule with voice vote after a debate on the issue. Replying to the debate, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde refuted suggestions that the Central Government had made any attempt to destabilise the state government.

Jharkhand was brought under President\'s Rule for the third time since its formation 12 years ago on January 18.

"Something else other than administration was happening there....We do not have such a mindset. Did we go to the JMM to ask them to withdraw its support to pull the government?" he said.

The Home Minister said it was "difficult" to run coalition governments and cited the example of the UPA-II government being run by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"You should have will power to run a coalition government .... we do not want small states to suffer because of these things," he said.

The Home Minister said the gap between the last two occasions when President's Rule was imposed in the state was around three months and if the BJP wants, it can again stake claim to form Government.

He said Governor Syed Ahmed had tried for three days to resolve the crisis in the state before recommending the imposition of President's Rule in the state.

During the debate, Jaiprakash Narayan Singh (BJP) accused the Congress and the RJD of supporting the government of Madhu Koda and held the parties responsible for alleged Rs 6,000 crore loot in the state.

He demanded that the Centre should immediately accept the recommendation made by the Arjun Munda to dissolve the Assembly and hold fresh elections there.

Pradeep Balmuchu (Cong) said the BJP had been ruling the state for 10 years after it was formed in 2000 and held it responsible for the mismanagement and corruption there.

Bhupender Yadav (BJP) objected to invoking Article 356 against the Jharkhand government saying that such a step should not be taken with a political motive.

"Invoking Article 356 (of the Constitution) is not good and should not be taken with political purpose. For last two and half months, coalition government was in rule and unfortunately Centre did not give full support. Rather, it tried to bring down the state government," he said.

It is for the third time that the President rule is being imposed in the state and most of the political parties are against such a move because it would lead to discontinuation of current development schemes, thus impacting people.

Insisting that the state needs permanent solution to the problem, Yadav sought fresh elections with new mandate to boost growth in the state.

Blaming the NDA rule for instability in Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu (Cong) said, "Since inception of the state, NDA has been ruling. Whatever is the situation in the state, NDA has been responsible. Congress has not been anchoring power there."

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