NEW DELHI: Hoping against hope, JMM is again trying its luck at getting two of its MPs inducted into the Union Cabinet but the very fact that the UPA leadership went out of its way to make Shibu Soren Jharkhand chief minister is posing the biggest roadblock now.
With Soren content after becoming CM on August 27, resentment is brewing among the JMM rank and file and topping the list are its ministerial hopefuls Hemlal Murmu and Teklal Mahato.
Unable even to put his government on course so far, Soren, under pressure from party leaders, rushed to Delhi on Wednesday to try and meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and remind her of his party's 'right' to get the two ministerial slots, a quid pro quo for its support to the government during the July 22 trust vote.
A much bigger spoiler is the Samajwadi Party’s refusal to join the ministry despite bailing out the government during the confidence vote.
"This really upset our chances because had SP decided to join, ministry expansion would have preceded other decisions. But Guruji will surely try till Sonia Gandhi says a categorical no," a source close to Soren told TOI. UPA trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee is also believed to have told JMM leaders that the matter would be considered only after Vijayadashami next month. Murmu and Mahato met Mukherjee last Friday.
The JMM's hopes are fast receding because PM Manmohan Singh is in no hurry to expand his ministry. Singh is slated to visit Washington later this month, possibly by when the US Congress would have endorsed the 123 agreement, his last pressing imperative before general elections are called.
Then, Parliament would be in session from October 17 to November 21 and the Congress is in no hurry to address JMM's demand when the government is already in its last lap. Moreover, if at all made ministers by the end of November, the JMM MPs would be in office for barely six months.
The JMM's case turned considerably weak after Soren was gifted the top job in Jharkhand, an issue that was not on the party's initial wish list when it offered support to the UPA government. An apt indicator is the JMM's total silence now on bagging the Union coal ministry, a portfolio still held by the Prime Minister.
With Soren content after becoming CM on August 27, resentment is brewing among the JMM rank and file and topping the list are its ministerial hopefuls Hemlal Murmu and Teklal Mahato.
Unable even to put his government on course so far, Soren, under pressure from party leaders, rushed to Delhi on Wednesday to try and meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and remind her of his party's 'right' to get the two ministerial slots, a quid pro quo for its support to the government during the July 22 trust vote.
A much bigger spoiler is the Samajwadi Party’s refusal to join the ministry despite bailing out the government during the confidence vote.
"This really upset our chances because had SP decided to join, ministry expansion would have preceded other decisions. But Guruji will surely try till Sonia Gandhi says a categorical no," a source close to Soren told TOI. UPA trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee is also believed to have told JMM leaders that the matter would be considered only after Vijayadashami next month. Murmu and Mahato met Mukherjee last Friday.
The JMM's hopes are fast receding because PM Manmohan Singh is in no hurry to expand his ministry. Singh is slated to visit Washington later this month, possibly by when the US Congress would have endorsed the 123 agreement, his last pressing imperative before general elections are called.
Then, Parliament would be in session from October 17 to November 21 and the Congress is in no hurry to address JMM's demand when the government is already in its last lap. Moreover, if at all made ministers by the end of November, the JMM MPs would be in office for barely six months.
The JMM's case turned considerably weak after Soren was gifted the top job in Jharkhand, an issue that was not on the party's initial wish list when it offered support to the UPA government. An apt indicator is the JMM's total silence now on bagging the Union coal ministry, a portfolio still held by the Prime Minister.
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