Thiruvananthapuram : Ahead of the trial strength by Arjun Munda government in the assembly, a group of MLAs from Jharkhand were today put up at a private resort in Alappuzha in Kerala. According to sources, the MLAs included some of the dissidents who had withdrawn support to the NDA government.

The resort authorities, however, refused to disclose the number and the names of the MLAs. They were kept out of bounds for the media and the public. The group, which included some of the supporters of the MLAs, arrived via Kochi yesterday, the sources added. Two of them had, however, left the place last evening.

The special assembly session in Ranchi would begin on September 14 to take up the trust vote. The BJP-led government had plunged into a crisis after four ministers resigned from the Cabinet and withdrew their support on September 5.

BJP asks Naidu to handle Jharkhand crisis

BJP has entrusted its leader M Venkaiah Naidu with the task of handling the crisis on its government in Jharkhand, a party sources said. "He (Naidu) has been asked to handle the situation in Jharkhand. He is on the job," a party leader said.

The BJP government in Jharkhand plunged into a crisis after four of its ministers, pulled out of it reducing it to a minority. Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who faces a floor test next week, has not turned up for the BJP's national executive meeting here.

NCP informs Jharkhand Speaker about decision on Kamlesh Singh

Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari has said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar informed him that the party had exonerated its MLA Kamlesh Singh from flouting party whip during the government formation last year. "I received a fax signed by Tariq Anwar late last night and the fax message says the NCP has exonerated Kamlesh Singh from flouting the party whip," Namdhari said here.

Singh had joined the BJP-led NDA coalition despite the NCP whip issued to him on March 14, 2005, Namdhari said. The NCP legislator, facing disqualification notice now, has resigned from the Munda government and withdrawn support to the NDA coalition and thrown his weight behind UPA.

Asked whether he would take into account the NCP's decision while deciding on his status, a non-committal speaker, quoting from the tenth schedule, said "A party can reconsider to withdraw whip within 15 days of its issuance. But here the withdrawal comes nearly after 18 months." "Moreover," he added, "I had only asked for a reply by September 11 after getting a petition from two BJP MLAs, who have sought his disqualification for violating whip.

The whip against Singh had been pending with the Speaker's office when JPCC president Pradeep Kumar Balmachu was Pro-Tem Speaker during the short-lived UPA government last year, he added. Asked why he chose to pick it up now amidst political crisis, the Speaker said neither Anwar nor any one else from the opposition raised the issue since then.

The BJP MLAs, Saryu Roy and Dinesh Kumar Sarangi, have charged Singh with ignoring the NCP's whip asking him to support the Soren government in the trust vote last year. The Speaker has also issued disqualification notices to Enos Ekka and Stephen Marandi, who have withdrawn support to the 18-month-old Munda government, reducing it to minority.

While Ekka faces the charge of flouting whip of his Jharkhand Party, Marandi is charged with joining a political party despite winning the assembly seat as an Independent. Namdhari is scheduled to hear all the petitions on September 11 even as the opposition announced gherao of assembly that day. The Munda government will face a floor test on September 14. On the same day the Supreme Court will hear a petition moved by the three MLAs challenging the Speaker's move.

Meanwhile, senior RJD MLA Girinath Singh said over phone that the UPA would soon decide whether to call a statewide bandh on September 11. The UPA was pondering over other options like moving a no-trust motion against the Speaker. The RJD legislator questioned the Speaker's 'credibility' to hear the petitions after four of Arjun Munda cabinet's ministers resigned and withdrew support to the government. PTI