Jharkhand Vikas Morcha withdraws support from UPA

Two Lok Sabha Members of Parliament of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha on Saturday formally withdrew support from the United Progressive Alliance government, slamming it for anti-people decisions like FDI in multi brand retail, inflation and "creating a record in corruption".

A delegation of JVM MPs and seniors leaders, led by party chief Babulal Marandi, met President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a letter withdrawing support from the government.

Marandi was accompanied by another party MP Ajay Kumar, and leaders Pradip Yadav, Gautam Sagar Rana, Rajiv Ranjan Prasad and others.

In the letter, Marandi said that the JVM had extended unconditional support to the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009 on the plank of secularism and with the hope that the government will fulfill people's aspirations.

He said that he was also hopeful that the government will try to bring Jharkhand in the category of developed states by giving special attention to it. Congress and JVM had fought the last general elections together in an alliance.

"On the contrary, the government of Manmohan Singh has put unbearable burden on the common people with anti-people decisions like bringing FDI in multi-brand retail and massive increase in the price of diesel and cooking gas. Similarly the government is establishing a record in corruption with scams like 2G spectrum, CWG, and coal block allocations. JVM-P withdraws support from the Manmohan Singh government in these situations," Marandi said.

Talking to PTI, he said that his party will maintain its distance from both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress as "both have only looted Jharkhand".

The JVM-P chief said that his party will go alone in Jharkhand but "will support if any Third Front shapes up at the central level after the 2014 general elections".

Marandi had announced withdrawal of support to the UPA government in September, soon after the government introduced FDI in multi-brand retail.