Ranchi: A regional party, JVM, met its natural death on Monday. Jharkhand Vikash Morcha split into two parts, one headed by its president Babu Lal Marandi merging with the BJP and another group led by two party legislators Pradip Yadav and Bandhu Tirky deciding to go with the Congress.
JVM was founded in 2006 by the first chief minister of Jharkhand Babu Lal Marandi after he was unceremoniously removed by the party high-command which made the present tribal welfare minister Arjun Munda as the chief minister.
Babu Lal Marandi was readmitted into BJP by the union home minister Amit Shah at a public meeting held at Prabhat Tara Maidan here. Marandi said it was like home coming for him as he was returning to his party after 14 years. Admitting that the BJP leadership was in touch with him since 2014 and persuading him to re-enter the party, Marandi said, “It was not sudden.
Amit Shah said Marandi was too stubborn and declined his offers to rejoin BJP. “Since I took over as the BJP president in 2014, I had been trying to persuade him to return to BJP”, he said.
Two former chief ministers, Raghuwar Das and Arjun Munda who were hostile to the idea of Marandi getting readmitted into BJP, were also present.
Two of Marandi’s MLAs, Pradip Yadav and Bandhi Tiurky, were admitted in the Congress by the AICC general secretary in-charge RPN Singh. RPN Singh said Rahul Gandhi will honour the two JVM MLAs at a public rally here soon.
The BJP is likely to nominate Marandi as the leader of opposition in absence of the former chief minister Raghuwar Das, who was defeated in the assembly elections.
