Ranchi: With the five-phase Assembly polls underway in Jharkhand to elect the 10th government in 14 years, instability is the issue that is uppermost in the minds of voters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also flagged the issue in his campaign speeches, terming it as the single-most important factor behind lack of development in the natural resources-rich state since it was created on November 15, 2000.
So did other political parties.
But why is it that on an average there is a new government in the state every one and a half years? Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who had headed fragile coalition governments three times, said, "The single biggest factor for instability is the absence of institutional development."
A candidate from Kharsawan constituency in the latest round of Assembly election, Munda elucidated his point a little more.
"To implement state, district or panchayat plans, for instance, a policy is required and to put this policy into effect institutional development is a must, but Jharkhand is too young a state to allow it to happen."
Munda, now the leader of Opposition, explained that coalition governments in older states could last because they already had the well-developed institutions in place.
Former deputy chief minister and AJSU Party president Sudesh Mahto, who had been a minister in all the BJP-led governments, however, blamed instability on the lack of leadership.
"Lack of leadership is responsible for Jharkhand's under development," Mahto felt.
Madhu Koda, who headed a 23-month-old UPA government, said pulls and pressures from regional parties making up a coalition government were responsible for the instability.
"Regional parties have influence in more than 50 per cent of areas in the state, and people naturally think they can benefit from them," Koda, who is now contesting from Majhgaon seat and his MLA wife from Jagannathpur constituency, said.
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