RJD chief Lalu Prasad's conviction in the fodder scam, perpetual rise and fall of governments and Maoists' daring elimination of a senior police official marked a tumultuous year in Jharkhand.
Lalu's followers were left stunned when a CBI court convicted him and sentenced him to five years rigorous imprisonment in a fodder scam case in October. His release from a jail here 74 days later on bail granted by the Supreme Court re-energised RJD workers.
After walking free on bail, Lalu claimed he would rein in Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's "communal rath" but senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha termed him as an "empty shell" that had lost its explosiveness.
Former Chief Minister Madhu Koda, whose MLA wife supports the JMM-Congress-RJD government, also got bail in connection with a multi-crore scam that was allegedly unearthed during his tenure between 2006 and 2008.
Similar to political upheaval scenes seen during previous years, 2013 too saw a political crisis with the Arjun Munda-led BJP-JMM-Ajsu coalition falling after the JMM walked out. Munda resigned on January 8 with his 'minority' Cabinet recommending dissolution of Jharkhand Assembly.
Rejecting the recommendation, Governor Syed Ahmed recommended President's rule and it was imposed on January 18, for the third time in the state's short political history.
JMM leader Hemant Soren took over the reins of the ninth government stitching an alliance with Congress and RJD on July 13 even as hiccups among allies continued intermittently with some MLAs, what a ruling partner alleged, exerting pressure on the government to realise various demands.
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