Ranchi: Controversy arose within the BJP on Thursday following the statement of former CM and party leader Arjun Munda on including JVM president Babulal Marandi in the party and projecting him as the CM in the Assembly elections.
Senior BJP leader and former Speaker of Jharkhand Assembly CP Singh termed the statement given by Munda as latter�s personal opinion. He said any decision on choosing a CM candidate from among the party members would be solely taken by the party leadership.
�It appears that Mundajee has made a personal statement regarding selection of a chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Assembly elections. This should not be taken as the party�s official statement. The party president and other senior leaders will be deciding as to who will lead Jharkhand as its CM when the time is ripe,� said Singh.
Munda had yesterday said in Dhanbad while speaking to scribes that he will welcome Babulal Marandi in case he returns to the BJP fold. He had also said that he will have no objection in case the party projected Marandi as the CM.
Another party leader Samaresh Singh, who recently joined the BJP after quitting JVM, said the statement was objectionable. �The BJP president Amit Shah had recently made it clear during his visit to Ranchi that the Assembly elections will be contested under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When he has already made things pretty clear on the CM candidature issue, how can Arjun Munda name anyone the next CM.�
Meanwhile, JVM general secretary Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, reacting to Munda�s statement, said the BJP was suffering from a leadership crisis. �The state BJP has no worthy leader to give the party direction.
This is why the party president announced that the party would be contesting the Assembly polls under the leadership of Narendra Modi. This is because the day the CM candidate�s name is declared, the party would be divided,� he said.