Ranchi, Dec 24 (IANS) As speculation mounted over who would be the next Jharkhand chief minister, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren clarified Thursday that he wanted to be king, not kingmaker, and that no party was an "untouchable".

Keeping all his options open, Soren, who with 18 seats in the 81-member assembly is key to forming the next government, said triumphantly that "everything" depended on him.

"I do not want to be kingmaker, I want to be king. It's not important now what Arjun Munda (of the BJP) and Babulal Marandi (of the JVM-P) are stating. Now everything depends on me," Soren told reporters in Bokaro, a day after the assembly elections threw up a badly fractured verdict.

Both Munda and Marandi are former chief ministers.

Asked if would accept a central cabinet berth, as some Congress leaders had suggested, in lieu of the chief minister's post, he said categorically that there "was no such possibility".

"My role is important for a stable and corruption free government in Jharkhand."

Soren also made it clear that he could go any which way.

"No political party is untouchable for me. I can go with anyone who is ready to give a strong and stable government to boost development in the state as well as a corruption free government."

"I am the key person in formation of the state government. It is now time to teach some lessons to the opportunists who several times ditched me, which resulted in unstable and corrupt governments."

While the BJP and the JD-U got 20 seats, the Congress-JVM-P alliance got 25 seats.