Jharkhand has turned lab for political experiments: Arjun Munda

RANCHI: Jharkhand has become a "laboratory" for political experiments denting the image of the state, former Chief Minister and BJP leader Arjun Munda today said.


"Credibility of politics in Jharkhand is going down as the state has been turned into a political laboratory," Munda said while speaking against the vote of confidence moved by Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the state Assembly here.

Stating that it was the third trust vote in the same House, Munda recalled how he resigned on January 8 this year and his then cabinet recommended dissolution of the House to maintain credibility after his government was reduced to a minority.

But instead of dissolving the House, he added, the Raj Bhavan waited for six months giving opportunity for formation of a government.

"It is the first time in the history that some political parties had told (the Raj Bhavan) to wait till we get the list of supporters and they were given six months time," Munda said, apparently quoting the JMM leadership calling on Governor Syed Ahmed in the second week of January to seek time for producing the list of supporting MLAs.

Munda, who had led the BJP/JMM/Ajsu/JDU alliance from September 11, 2010, till his resignation, said such actions only dented credibility and led to destruction of various institutions.

Taking strong exception for winding up Ladli Laxmi Yozana during President's rule, which he had introduced during his regime, Munda claimed stopping of such pro-people steps would only lead to atrocities against the women.