Mahto had recently caused a flutter when he had openly criticised the Rashtriya Janata Dal's line opposing creaton of a separate state. The meeting, called by Mahto, however, failed to elicit an encouraging response from legislators belonging to the parties supporting the creation of a separate state comprising 18 tribal districts of Bihar.

Barring Congress MLA, Radha Krishna Kishore, and the BJP's chief whip in the State Assembly, Chatru Ram Mahto, no MLA from any other party attended the meeting. However, some middle and lower rung leaders of the Congress, BJP, Smajwadi Janata Party, Janata Dal and Samata Party were present to express their solidarity with the cause.

The most prominent among those present was JMM (S) vice-president, Suraj Mandal, who charged RJD chiefLaloo Prasad Yadav with having betrayed the people of Jharkhand.

``No power under the sun can now prevent creation of separate state,'' asserted Mandal and said that an all-party meeting had been convened at Ranchi on October 10 to devise strategy to launch a concerted movement to achieve the goal.

Chairing the meeting, Mahto said that he would continue to struggle for the Jharkhand cause while remaining in the party. Chatru Ram Mahto said that the agitation for statehood was at a crucial stage and vowed to make all sacrifice for creation of `Vananchal' to which his party was committed.

The Congress MLA, Radhakrishna Kishore, said that the RJD president had made a volte face on the Jharkhand issue to divert public attention from his party's ``abysmal performance on all fronts''.

Meanwhile, the meeting, convened by Mahto, has evoked sharp reaction from the Congress and BJP. While Bihar BJP president, Nandkishore Yadav, in a statement demanded that Mahto first resign from the ministry and quit partybefore espousing the cause of tribal statehood, the State Congress chief, Sadanand Singh, said that Mahto had not taken his party (Congress) into confidence before calling the meeting.