The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Jharkhand demanded on Tuesday that Shibu Soren, who was convicted for murdering his private secretary, should also resign from the chairmanship of the ruling United Progressive Alliance's steering committee.
"The prime minister has asked him to resign from the Coal Ministry. Soren should quit as chairman of the UPA's steering committee," said BJP's state unit secretary Prem Kataruka and Janata Dal-United's spokesman Pramod Kumar Mishra.
Accusing Soren of cheating the people of Jharkhand, senior BJP leader Saryu Roy said that the court verdict had 'exposed JMM's sellout to the then P V Narasimha Rao government'.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda said the JMM chief should ponder over the Congress's 'use and throw' politics.
"The case had surfaced when Soren's JMM was supporting the Congress. Soren is now also in the union cabinet. It is for Soren to decide whether to stick with the Congress' use and throw politics," Munda said.
CPI (ML-Liberation) state unit secretary Subhendu Sen demanded that Chief Minister Madhu Koda should resign as the UPA government in the state 'treats Soren as its head'.
Jharkhand Vikas Dal president Suraj Mandal said, "The remote control of the Koda government will now be in jail."