BJP, Oppn spar as J'khand crisis spills over into House

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday dubbed the Opposition's alliance as a cricket team with 11 captains refusing to accommodate others and said INDIA bloc leaders are switching sides as the country is witnessing all-round development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as Opposition members attempted to use the political crisis in Jharkhand to corner the government.

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The comments came during the discussion on the President's speech that turned into a pre-poll verbal duel in Parliament. Opposition parties, led by the Congress, briefly staged walked out from the Rajya Sabha over the Jharkhand governor not making interim arrangements for governance in the state after JMM leader Hemant Soren resigned as chief minister.

Congress president and Leader of the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge attacked the BJP over how the Enforcement Directorate was "targeting Opposition leaders", emphasised that unemployment is the biggest issue and demanded Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's removal for his statement on job classification for different castes.

Contrasting the experiences of the Jharkhand Mukti MorchaCongress coalition in Jharkhand government to that of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, he said, "Nitish Kumar resigned and within 15 minutes he was allowed to stake claim and name a new cabinet. But in Jharkhand, in spite of having signatures of 43 MLAs, the governor delayed allowing the formation of a new government".