RANCHI, MARCH 2 Governor Syed Sibtey Razi had made up his mind to appoint a Congress-JMM government even before the elections were over. That explains his impatience when the charade of the legislators’ parade was going on before his eyes. That also explains why he had to turn a blind eye to the presence of the five Independent MLAs who took the NDA strength in the 81-member assembly to that reassuring majority mark of 41.

Here are some of the tell-tale signs of how the governor knew all along what he was supposed to do.

• Last evening itself, Jharkhand leader and Independent MLA, Stephen Marandi, who had come back to his sometimes-friend-sometimes-enemy Shibu Soren’s arms only 48 hours ago, started telling everybody that the Governor would invite Soren to form the government. Some local papers even flashed that information as their lead story in this morning’s paper. It was, as though the niceties of democracy hardly mattered. Marandi had leaked the information without bothering about its implications. And it happened exactly as he had said. The governor asked Soren to form the government exactly at 11 am as predicted. And Stephen became deputy CM.

‘‘After talking to everyone concerned, I was satisfied that the UPA could provide a stable government. Had it been only (about) numbers, then there would not be (any) need for the Governor to take a decision. — Governor Syed Sibtey Razi • The governor was very impatient at Raj Bhavan yesterday when the five Independent MLAs queued up to meet him in the company of some influential BJP legislators. The five, Enos Ekka, Harinarayan Rai, Sudesh Mahato, Chandraprakash Choudhary and Madhu Kora had turned up a little later than the appointed time. Emerging from the meeting, a couple of these Independents spoke how they were rather surprised by the Governor adopting a rather rude tone. Apparently he reproached them in very strong language for being late. An impartial governor would have been aware how one claimant for power had to protect its coveted MLAs from horse-trading. That delay could have been well-overlooked. The governor made this delay appear like a major crime.

• He repeatedly asked the MLAs yesterday if they were being held against their will. According to BJP sources, he asked Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai (two whose names had figured prominently in the UPA list as well) if they had been tempted with spoils of office or other incentives by the NDA. The MLAs later described the Governor’s questions and even his style of grilling them made them wonder if he was acting as an inquisitor on behalf of the UPA.

• Even after the numbers were there and the five men have physically walked the ramp for his personal satisfaction, the governor would not give any swearing-in time for the Arjun Munda government. The BJP leaders were amazed. They smelt that something was foul. They went into a huddle, they saw the smirk on the Congress leaders’ faces and knew that something ‘‘fundamentally wrong’’ was about to happen. Inder Singh Namdhari, Jharkhand’s JD(U) leader today told The Indian Express before taking the flight to Delhi in the evening, ‘‘It was obvious last afternoon itself that they were going to murder democracy.’’ The NDA leaders last night began a demonstration outside Raj Bhavan which they resumed this morning.

• It was evident from the way the local Jharkhand Congress functionaries had been reduced to nothing that the High Command’s representatives, Ajit Jogi and Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, were calling the shots. Most local Congress leaders, even Subodh Kant Sahay, had not entirely been filled in probably till yesterday. Jogi and Das Munshi looked and talked confident all the time. They were taking instructions from Delhi at every turn.