Political instability keeping Jharkhand behind: Arjun Munda

Ranchi: With the five-phase Assembly polls underway in Jharkhand to elect the 10th government in 14 years, instability is the issue that is uppermost in the minds of voters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also flagged the issue in his campaign speeches, terming it as the single-most important factor behind lack of development in the natural resources-rich state since it was created on November 15, 2000. So did other political parties.

But why is it that on an average there is a new government in the state every one and a half years?

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who had headed fragile coalition governments three times, said, "The single biggest factor for instability is the absence of institutional development."

Munda, now the leader of Opposition, explained that coalition governments in older states could last because they already had the well-developed institutions in place.

Former deputy chief minister and AJSU Party president Sudesh Mahto, who had been a minister in all the BJP-led governments, however, blamed instability on the lack of leadership.

"Lack of leadership is responsible for Jharkhand’s under development," Mahto felt.

Madhu Koda, who headed a 23-month-old UPA government, said pulls and pressures from regional parties making up a coalition government were responsible for the instability.

"Regional parties have influence in more than 50 per cent of areas in the state, and people naturally think they can benefit from them," Koda, who is now contesting from

Majhgaon seat and his MLA wife from Jagannathpur constituency, said.

Voicing dismay at the state of affairs, Koda observed, "Pulls and pressures in coalition politics are natural, but there should not be any personal agenda while working for the state."