Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda resigns, seeks dissolution of Assembly

RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday resigned and recommended dissolution of the 82-member Assembly leaving the situation wide open for the Governor to decide the future course of action.

Earlier in the day, coalition partner JMM, in a letter to Governor Syed Ahmed, formally withdrew its support to the 28-month-old government pushing it into a minority.

"I have submitted the Cabinet's decision recommending the Governor to dissolve the House along with my resignation," Munda told reporters here after handing over the letter to Ahmed.

His cabinet colleagues Gopal Krishna Patar of JD(U), Chandraprakash Choudhary of AJSU and several BJP MLAs were present when Munda submitted the letter at Raj Bhavan at 11.45 AM.

The Governor, he said, would decide on the recommendation for dissolution of the House.

"I have run the government with stability for the last two years. Dissolution of the House and seeking a fresh mandate is the alternative presently," he said.

The decision on recommending dissolution of the House was taken at a Cabinet meeting held this morning to prevent any 'horse trading-like situation', Munda told PTI before going to Raj Bhavan.

"Seven ministers (of the coalition government) were present in the Cabinet meeting and it was decided to recommend dissolution of the state Assembly," he said.

No JMM member was present at the meeting. The decision, he said, was taken as no national party had openly come forward to provide an alternative government in the wake of the JMM's announcement to pull out of the government.

Jharkhand has witnessed fast paced political developments after BJP rejected all demands of the JMM including handing over of power as per an 'accord' on rotational leadership of the coalition.