Jharkhand elections and BJP's balancing act: Non-tribal CM, but a tribal speaker
Ranchi, Dec 31: In a well-thought of balancing act by the BJP government in Jharkhand, it may have deviated from the strict 'only-tribal' CM regulation, but has stationed a tribal as the speaker in Dinesh Oraon.
Incidentally, he too would be the first tribal to be nominated as the speaker like the first non-tribal CM Raghubar Das. This way, the BJP extended an olive branch to the opposition JMM.
Oraon is said to have a great academic record with a clean background. He is now the first full-fledged Speaker of the 82-member House with 81 elected legislators and a nominated one.
Incidentally, chief minister Das also said that he would seek the blesisngs of JMM Supremo Shibu Soren for the smooth functioning of the government.
Interestingly, although BJP had emphasised that tribal and non-tribal was a non-issue and that the party was focussed on developmental plans for the state, Das could not have ignored the tribal community. However, after Das's election, the state saw bandhs and tribal protests over Das's election.
The move to seek Soren's blessing was an intelligent and a strategic one. The JMM had announced that they would demoocratically protest against the appointment of a non-tribal chief minister.
However, in the present situation, the chances of a protest of this kind grow dimmer.
OneIndia News