I quit on moral grounds: Jharkhand speaker

Inder Singh Namdhari, speaker of the Jharkhand assembly, surprised everyone by tendering his resignation soon after the House was adjourned when Arjun Munda resigned as the state chief minister.

Namdhari's decision not to disqualify the three Independent legislators and allow them to vote did not go well with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who had expected the speaker to come to their rescue.

Namdhari told rediff.com from his home in Ranchi that he did not regret his decision. "I am at peace with myself and there is no feeling of guilt," he said.

"I resigned because it was

not proper for me to continue as speaker when there was going to be a new government in office. I could have continued as speaker and there were feelers from those who are going to form the new government. But I did not feel comfortable about it and hence I resigned on moral grounds," he explained.

He refuted the belief that the BJP is unhappy with him as he did not act according to the script. "Nobody has said that the party is unhappy with me," he said. "I applied my mind and felt that if I disqualify the three members then the new government too would not last long. The state needs a representative government."

"I was under pressure from my conscience," he said. "I did not want to do anything that would bother me later."