NEW DELHI, 26 August 2005 — The crisis looming at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Jharkhand appears to have worsened with seven of its ministers demanding removal of Chief Minister Arjun Munda.

Seven ministers of the BJP-led coalition government in Jharkhand, including two belonging to close ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U), are in the capital to press for Munda’s removal.

“With all these ministers in Delhi, you can understand the state of affairs in the state,” said Ramesh Munda, a rebel minister.

“The BJP is a big party and should listen to us, remove the chief minister and end the political crisis in Jharkhand,” he added.

Earlier, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had publicly criticized Munda’s work. More recently, five independent legislators also said they were unhappy with his functioning.

The BJP yesterday kept at bay the revolt in Jharkhand government by setting up panels for coordination within the party and with coalition partners, but dissidents remained unhappy about Munda.

The BJP announced two coordination panels, one of which would have the disgruntled ministers in Munda’s Cabinet who met BJP President L.K. Advani and senior party leaders here yesterday.

“The coordination committees will ensure the good performance of the government and the party,” said Rajnath Singh, the BJP general secretary in-charge of Jharkhand. Rajnath demurred when asked about the rebels’ demand for a leadership change. “We are not aware of any such demands,” he said.

The ministers have made it clear to the BJP that it has become “impossible” for them to work under Munda’s leadership.

“We are being sidelined by Munda,” said Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Enos Ekka, one of the dissidents.

“We do not have the freedom to run our departments and handle our districts.” Munda and his arch foe and predecessor Babulal Marandi were also present at the meeting.

Paswan Meets Parties Opposed to Lalu

In a bid to form an alternative to Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD)-led forces in Bihar, the Lok Jan Shakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan yesterday held discussion with several allies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in view of forthcoming Bihar Assembly polls.

“We discussed on providing a real secular alternative in Bihar,” Paswan said here after talks with representatives of the different political parties which include, Communist Party of India(CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Forward Bloc.

He said LJP was also in touch with CPI-ML for an alliance. “We are against the 4Cs of casteism, communalism, corruption and criminalization,” Paswan said adding these parties have expressed commitment to provide Bihar with a better alternative.