Jharkhand heads for Prez Rule, again

Jharkhand could be headed for a short spell of President's Rule as three major political parties — the BJP, Congress and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajantrik (JVM-P) — informed Governor MOH Farooq that they did not have the required numbers to form an alternative government. Six Times Unlucky

Following this, the governor sent a report to the Union home ministry, recommending President's Rule, according to sources in the Raj Bhawan.

In New Delhi, Home Minister P Chidambaram met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi after receiving the report.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet has been convened on Tuesday to consider the governor's report, sent a day after JMM chief Sibu Soren resigned as chief minister.

The Soren government was reduced to a minority on May 24 when the BJP, with 18 legislators and JD(U) with two, withdrew support to it.

The Congress said it was not going to form any alternative government in the state.

"We don't have numbers and we do not want to get into this atmosphere of horse-trading," K Keshav Rao, party in-charge of Jharkhand, said in Delhi.

Meanwhile, frantic efforts are on in Ranchi to forge some sort of an alliance and avoid President's Rule. The All Jharkhand Students' Union, which has five legislators in the 82-member House, has decided to support JMM. This has opened up options for the JMM to forge a coalition government with either a Congress-JVM(P) alliance or a BJP-JD(U) alliance.

The JMM has indicated that it is ready to go either way.

"We are ready to join any alliance," said JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya.

(With inputs from Aurangzeb Naqshbandi in New Delhi and agencies)

How astrology failed Soren

The stars and planets are not quite aligning for Sibu Soren, who was forced to resign on Sunday as chief minister without completing a full five-year term for the third time.

Just a day after taking the oath of the CM's office on December 30, 2009, he announced he would not move to 3, Kanke Road, the officially-notified chief minister's residence in Ranchi.

The decision was not administrative.

"The CM decided not to move in the notified CM house because some astrologers advised him that the official residence had many vastu-related defects," a senior official said.

"Accordingly, officers were asked to furnish Soren's Morhabadi Ground residence as per his wish."

The main defects, according to vastu experts, were that 3, Kanke Road had two gates in the west, which was not considered suitable. The vacant plot in the front and security personnel houses on the west were other "defects", sources said.

Soren continued to stay at his Morhabadi Ground home, which became the de facto chief minister’s residence. Several architectural modifications were made here as well. Soren also re-scheduled his oath-taking ceremony following astrologers' advice, pushing it ahead by a few hours.

It's anybody's guess if Soren will prove to be fourth-time lucky.