Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren may be finding his position under siege after the BJP withdrew support and both the Congress and the JVM(P) began eyeing the top post in return for their support to his minority government. But the tribal satrap flashed his characteristic smile in photos in newspaper advertisements his government released on the occasion of Buddha Purnima on Thursday.
Most political parties in Jharkhand, except Mr Soren’s JMM, and several intellectuals said the advertisements featuring Soren as chief minister were at odds with the current situation of extreme political turmoil prevailing in the state for a month and made little sense, even though they admitted such advertisements were “technically correct” because Soren is still “technically the chief minister”.
The advertisements were also described as indications of the 66-year-old Soren’s “unseemly desire to cling to power” even after facing a number of situations that were politically very embarrassing for a leader of his stature ever since BJP first announced withdrawal of support on April 28 and actually did so on May 24.
Obviously, when Mr Soren’s minority government is widely expected to fail in proving its majority in the Assembly on May 31 and consequently fail, it was a shock to many to see his smiling pictures in government advertisements. But leaders of all the parties agreed that Mr Soren would like to lose the trust vote and resign rather than resign beforehand by reading the writing on the wall.
“It (the ad) presents a shocking contrast to the state’s political reality. I would not have personally allowed release of government ads of this nature in times like these, though technically there is nothing wrong in it,” BJP leader Saryu Rai said.