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HomePoliticsAfter picnic in Khunti, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren moves ministers & MLAs...

After picnic in Khunti, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren moves ministers & MLAs to Chhattisgarh

While CM Soren did not go, he saw all members off at the Birsa Munda Airport before their journey to Raipur.

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Ranchi: Amid silence from Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais on the disqualification case of Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the office-of-profit case, the ruling alliance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Tuesday took a majority of its MLAs and ministers on a brief sojourn, out of the state.

The destination of this entourage was Raipur — the capital of Congress-ruled neighbour Chhattisgarh.

While Soren did not go, he saw them off before returning to his official residence.

A senior alliance leader, who did not want to be named, confirmed to ThePrint from inside Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport that they were going to Raipur.

“Most of our MLAs are here at the airport, though I don’t have the exact count. I am not sure as yet about our duration of stay,” said the leader.

Besides the alliance MLAs, Congress’ Jharkhand National In-Charge, Avinash Pandey, was also part of the group. Before being driven to the airport, all alliance MLAs had a marathon meeting at CM Soren’s official residence in Ranchi’s Kanke Road. After the meeting got over, the MLAs and ministers, led by Soren, boarded a Volvo bus and left for the airport.

The sojourn is likely to be brief, JMM sources told ThePrint. “There is a cabinet meeting on 1 August. It has not been rescheduled yet. All ministers are likely to come back for the meeting,” the JMM leader said.

It has been a week since the current political crisis began in Jharkhand on 25 August, after the Election Commission of India (ECI) conveyed its opinion to Jharkhand Governor Bais in the office-of-profit case that could lead to Soren’s disqualification as an MLA. The governor, however, has not communicated his decision after receiving the ECI’s opinion.

The matter involves a petition that was filed before the governor on 11 February by BJP leaders, including former chief minister Raghubar Das, seeking Soren’s disqualification as an MLA on the grounds that he allegedly allotted a mining lease to himself last year while he was also heading the mining department. Soren has since surrendered the mining lease.

But the governor referred the matter to the ECI, which then sent a notice to Soren, asking him to respond to the charge that he allotted a mining lease to himself for a stone chips quarry on government land while holding the office of chief minister.

In its notice, the EC said Soren’s actions were a prima facie violation of Section 9A of the Representation of People’s Act.


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No clarity on why MLAs were moved out

There is no clarity on why a sudden decision was taken to move the MLAs and ministers out of Jharkhand. Till two days ago, the JMM-led alliance leaders, including Soren, had categorically said that they will stay put in Ranchi and face any challenge that comes their way.

Rumours, however, had been doing the rounds that the JMM-led alliance would move its MLAs to some ‘friendly’ state like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh or Rajasthan to check any possible poaching attempt by the opposition BJP.

Last Saturday, Soren, accompanied by over four dozen alliance MLAs, went on a ‘picnic’ to a tourist spot in Khunti district, some 32 kilometres from Ranchi.

CM Soren has also held a series of marathon meetings with all alliance MLAs and ministers since the ECI had sent its opinion to the governor.

Opposition sharpens attack against Soren govt

With the JMM-led alliance moving its MLAs and ministers out of the state, the opposition BJP was quick to attack the government. BJP leader and former state CM Babulal Marandi told ThePrint that the ruling alliance has left the state, even as the law and order situation was getting worse by the day.

He was referring to the death of a 16-year-old girl in Dumka Sunday after her alleged ‘stalker’ poured petrol over her and set her on fire.

“The government was busy going on a picnic as Ankita (the victim) battled for her life. She died of negligence but the Soren government is not bothered. Had Ankita got treatment on time, she would have still been alive,” Marandi said.

Marandi said this is the first time that a ruling party is moving out its MLAs and ministers out of the state. “They are so insecure even after being in power for 32 months,” the BJP leader added.

The opposition is likely to intensify its attack on the ruling alliance, now that the MLAs are being moved out of the state.

The ruling JMM-led alliance has 49 MLAs in Jharkhand’s 81-member legislature — JMM’s 30, Congress’s 18 and RJD’s 1 MLA. The lone CPI(ML) MLA, too, supports the JMM-led coalition. Opposition BJP has 26 MLAs as against the majority mark of 41.


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