Members of the National Democratic Alliance began an indefinite protest in front of the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi on Tuesday night  to protest against what they called the Jharkhand governor's reluctance to invite the combine to form the government.

The move came more than seven hours after the BJP-JDU submitted to the governor a list of 41 MLAs required to form the government.

NDA leaders, including Bharatiya Janata Party national vice-president Babulal Marandi, general secretary Ananth Kumar and Janata Dal-United president Inder Singh Namdhari, were part of the group of protesters.

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BJP general secretary in charge of Jharkhand Rajnath Singh had said that the NDA would continue the protest until the governor calls the alliance to form the government.

Meanwhile, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu demanded that the governor should immediately invite Arjun Munda, who was elected to head BJP and Janata Dal United on Monday, to form the government.

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Naidu was talking to newsmen at his residence in New Delhi on his return from Ranchi on Tuesday evening.

"The BJP-JDU combine have 36 members in the newly-elected assembly and we have the support of five Independents. All the MLAs were present before the governor and now the he says that he would talk to all the independent MLAs to find out their views," Naidu charged.

He accused the governor of Jharkhand of playing games under pressure from the central government.

"L K Advaniji has spoken to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the phone and asked him to intervene. The PM promised to talk to Home Minister Shivraj Patil on the issue," he said.

He said that the governor of Jharkhand and Goa were acting under pressure from the central government and trying to prevent installation of NDA government in Jharkhand and giving undue support to Pratapsinh Rane in Goa.

"The Goa governor gave 30 days to Rane to prove his majority. And the Jharkhand governor is not willing to invite Arjun Munda to form the government even though we have the numbers. Two central ministers were camping in Ranchi to put pressure on the governor. We may take up the matter with President A P J Abdul Kalam if the stalemate continues," he added.

With PTI inputs.