Patna: Defence Minister and Samata Party president George Fernandes on March 15 asked the Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari to quit before becoming a candidate for Chief Minister.

Namdhari should not be the Speaker and a candidate for Chief Ministership simultaneously, Fernandes told reporters at the Patna airport before leaving for Jalagarh in Bihar's Saran district to unveil a statue of Mahendra Mishra, a veteran freedom fighter.

Flaying the dubious role of the Jharkhand Assembly Speaker in adjourning the House sine die on March 13 after allowing the rebel Ministers to sit in the Opposition, Fernandes said Namdhari had bypassed Parliamentary procedure in running the House.

To a question Fernandes wondered as to how Namdhari could reconvene the House and be a Chief Ministerial candidate.

He, however, expressed hope that the crisis in Jharkhand could still be resolved.

Asked if there was any move to change the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leadership in Jharkhand, Fernandes parried the question saying, ''I am not in a position to comment since the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is looking into the matter.''

In reply to a question if he was contemplating action against the rebel Samata Ministers, Fernandes said, ''We have not yet thought of taking action against them and we are trying to resolve the matter.''

''The dissident Samata legislators and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MLA Lal Chand Mahto had met me in Delhi with their grievances and it was decided to hold a meeting on March 15 where their grievances would be redressed,'' the Samata party president said.

He said defying the Central leadership, they took a decision on their own and the Speaker's role gave a new twist to the whole episode.

Asked as to why he had not visited Ranchi, Fernandes said, ''I only go there where I am invited.''

In a dramatic turn of events on March 13, the 27 month-old Babulal Marandi government was reduced to minority after seven ministers – three Samata, two JD-U and one AJSU-UGDP and one Jharkhand Vananchal Congress – resigned and sat in the Opposition. PTI