Hindu nationalists take office in Jharkhand state

NEW DELHI, Sunday (AFP)

Hindu nationalists took office in the Indian state of Jharkhand on Saturday, ending a bitter power struggle after provincial elections last month left a hung parliament.

Sonia Gandhi's ruling Congress party accepted defeat in the see-saw battle for power in the 82-member legislative assembly after the February 27 provincial elections.

The Hindu nationalists won 36 seats in the vote but garnered the support of five lawmakers who had contested the regional elections as independents.

Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibte Razi, however, invited Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president Shibu Soren to form a government in state capital Ranchi on March 2 although the regional party, a Congress ally, was eight members short of a majority in the provincial house.

"It is victory for democracy," said newly elected chief minister Arjun Munda, who on March 3 paraded his 41 lawmakers before Indian President Abdul Kalam in New Delhi to prove his majority.

The move led to a demand from India's Supreme Court for a show of strength in the house.

Munda, a tribal, belongs to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which ruled India for six years until national elections last year saw Gandhi's Congress and its electoral allies forge a legislative majority in India's 543-seat federal parliament.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was said to be hugely embarrassed over the issue, had called the cabinet meeting to discuss the situation over which the opposition has repeatedly stalled parliament in the past few days.

Elections to both Maoist insurgency-ridden Jharkhand and the adjoining state of Bihar led to fractured verdicts in both the houses.