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BJP on his heels, CM Soren huddles with all ruling alliance MLAs
Soren, who is fighting off charges of corruption in and outside courts, on Saturday held a meeting of all ruling alliance legislators at his official residence in the state capital and discussed ways and means to address their grievances.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who is fighting off charges of corruption in and outside courts, on Saturday held a meeting of all ruling alliance legislators at his official residence in the state capital and discussed ways and means to address their grievances.
Soren leads an alliance government of his party JMM, Congress and the RJD in Jharkhand while BJP is the principal opposition in the state.
According to MLAs who attended the meeting, the chief minister also cautioned them against alleged attempts by the opposition to destabilise the state government and underlined the need for the alliance to stay together, besides discussing issues related to the impending drought in the state and improvement in the health services.
“The chief minister established a direct communication with the legislators of the ruling alliance, taking feedback on welfare schemes in the state and seeking suggestions on how to improve them. Besides, the issue of the opposition attempting to destabilise the state government was also discussed in the meeting,” said senior Congress legislator Pradeep Yadav.
Another Congress legislator, Amba Prasad, said while the ruling alliance was united in facing the challenge from the opposition, the CM would be issuing a direct number to address grievances of the legislators. “The chief minister would be issuing a direct WhatsApp number for the MLAs. They can directly post their grievances on it. Timebound action would be taken. The CM will also begin a virtual meeting with the legislators meeting ahead of cabinet meetings soon,” Prasad said.
Asked whether any strategy was discussed at the meeting to counter a possible adverse decision by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the office-of-profit row involving chief minister Hemant Soren, the legislators replied in the negative.
The Soren government currently has a comfortable majority against the required 41 in the 81-member House. The JMM is the largest party with 30 members in the House, while other two allies, Congress and RJD, have 18 and 1 legislators, respectively. BJP has 25 legislators.
“Come what may, Hemant Soren would continue to be the chief minister,” said JMM leader and state education minister Jagarnath Mahto.
Saturday’s party meeting was one of its kind. All legislature party meetings in the past were customarily held just ahead of assembly sessions.
The meeting also holds significance since it comes in the wake of developments that could have a direct bearing on the health of the Soren goverment.
On Wednesday last, the Supreme Court reserved its order on the petitions of Jharkhand government and CM Soren, which had challenged the June 3 order of Jharkhand High Court on the maintainability of two separate PILs probe against the chief minister by central agencies.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has completed the arguments on an office-of-profit complaint by the BJP against Soren and the decision on the complaint is expected any day. Any adverse decision against the chief minister could push the state polity into a fresh turmoil.
Political observers described the meeting important amid the prevailing political scenario in the state. “Some important developments have happened in recent past, including the arrest of three Congress legislators with cash in West Bengal. Going by the prevailing situation, it’s quite possible that the CM was trying to gauge the mood of the legislators and trying to chalk out possible steps to set the course right,” said Sudhir Pal, an independent political observer.
