Wednesday, March 30 2005 11:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ranchi: Aggrieved over Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Jaleswar Mahto's non-inclusion in the Arjun Munda Ministry, a group of his supporters raised slogans against Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda and Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari soon after the swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi yesterday (Mar 29, 2005).

Over 20 supporters shouted 'murdabad' slogans against Munda and Namdhari while praising Mahto's leadership qualities. Later, the former Minister had to intervene to pacify his agitated supporters.

The supporters claimed that Mahto's name had been changed at the eleventh hour in favour of Radha Krishna Kishore, also a JD-U MLA, despite party's national leader Nitish Kumar approving the names of Ramesh Singh Munda and Mahto.

According to high-level sources, the Chief Minister had to leave one berth vacant, as there was more than one claimant among Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs to the post.

In a statement, Opposition leader in the State Assembly Sudhir Mahto of the Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha (JMM) criticised the "incident at Raj Bhavan", which he said was in bad spirit.

"Morning shows the day. How long the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government on crutches would last is just a matter of time," Mahto added.