Cong itching to get rid of Koda but wary of situation

NEW DELHI: With the January 15 deadline to decide on its approach to the Madhu Koda government fast approaching, the Congress leadership here is busy working on the number games and the slippery coalition equations in Ranchi, to asses whether it has a fool-proof toppling project against chief minister Madhu Koda.

Aware that Mr Koda, an independent MLA, who runs his JMM-Congress-RJD-backed government with a razor-thin majority in the company of a group of unguided independent MLAs could also work on a reverse political swing to the NDA, the Congress leaders here say they will pull the plug on the chief minister only if it is certain that President’s rule will be imposed.

The Speaker, being a Congress MLA, may provide the party a strategic advantage in the House, but the Congress game plan also depends on the attitude of the JMM and RJD to risk a mid-term poll two years ahead of the scheduled assembly polls with nothing much to claim that the UPA is better placed to take on the BJP-led NDA challenge in a possible early assembly polls.

There are also indications that JMM chief Shibu Soren, now out of his legal problems, is favouring the continuation of the ruling arrangement with a change of guard, with himself in the chief minister’s chair. At least some Congress leaders read in Mr Soren’s projected stand a sub-plot of his bargaining for returning to the Union Cabinet.