IANS

Ranchi, Sep 9: All 22 legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jharkhand Wednesday handed over their resignations to Governor K. Shankarnarayan demanding early elections in the state that has been under president's rule since Jan 19.

BJP legislators and party leaders met the governor at the state secretariat to hand over their resignations and also submitted a memorandum seeking early elections and demanding that the state assembly be dissolved.

Accompanied by state party president Raghubar Das and Lok Sabha MPs Arjun Munda and Yashwant Sinha, the delegation then went to meet speaker Aalamgir Aalam to resign as members of the legislative assembly.

"The Congress is setting a wrong precedent by not holding elections in the state. Why are assembly elections in Jharkhand not taking place with Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh where polls will take place on Oct 13," Das told reporters.

"The Congress lost its ground in the Lok Sabha elections and is trying to regain its position by using the governor, who is playing the role of a Congress agent."

The BJP has also petitioned the Supreme Court in the matter.

Former chief minister Arjun Munda added: "In parliament, union Home Minister P. Chidambaram sought extension of president's rule with an assurance that elections would be held in Jharkhand after the monsoon. Why has the state assembly not been dissolved when no political formation has come forward to form an alternative government in the state."

The Congress responded by saying that it was the BJP that was playing politics.

"What is the problem if elections take place after two months. Why did the BJP legislators not resign when president's rule was imposed?" asked Congress spokesperson Rabindra Singh.

The strength of the 82-member Jharkhand assembly has dwindled to 43 after the resignation of the 22 BJP legislators. Seventeen seats had anyway been vacant. Of these, seven members were disqualified and five legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha.