The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has decided to project legislator Sushila Hansda as chief minister of Jharkhand, which is under President's rule, in case the United Progressive Alliance rejects the names of Nalin Soren and Salkhan Soren.
Hansda's name will be proposed when JMM supremo Shibu Soren meets UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi shortly, the JMM central committee decided on Thursday night, party sources said.
"My name has been added to the list as I am the only woman MLA in JMM and a four-time MLA," Hansda told media persons.
The Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal have rejected JMM's first choice Champai Soren, which was announced soon after Soren lost a bypoll and his subsequent resignation last month.
While the JMM has given the names of four of its MLAs as choice of chief minister, UPA allies have gone on record saying that any decision should be taken unanimously at a UPA meeting and not at the party level.
The projection of yet another name as it chief ministerial choice was sharply criticised by opposition parties, which demanded dissolution of the house.
