The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Tuesday threw its weight behind its leader and chief minister Hemant Soren, who is facing charges of corruption, and alleged that the BJP was trying to create an opportunity for the central agencies to step in and target its political opponents, as is being done in other states.
Dismissing charges of nepotism and corruption against Soren, who is also the JMM’s working president, party’s principal general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said BJP was creating confusion through “baseless” charges’ to destabilise the government.
“See what is happening in Maharashtra. Relatives of the chief minister and NCP leaders are being targeted. The same is being done in Bengal. In the past, the same model was executed in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The same script is being written in Jharkhand. An opportunity is being created for central agencies to destabilise the government,” Bhattacharya said at first such press conference by the party to defend the recent charges against the CM.
“Not a single rupee of revenue has been generated from the mine which is being talked about as the government did not give permission to operate it. Moreover, it’s a lease the CM has been holding since 2008 and he declared it in his election affidavits and income tax returns. It does not violate any provision of Representation of People’s Act, which clearly defines office of profit. We met the Governor yesterday and requested him that we be given fair chance to put forth out side. The Election Commission of India (ECI) should also allow us to present our case before it,” said Bhattacharya, talking about a stone chips mine near Ranchi that CM Soren is accused of leasing to himself.
On the allegation of industrial plot being allotted to the chief minister’s wife by the industry department headed by him, the JMM leader said land has also been allotted to others at the site, but she was unfairly being singled out.
{{/usCountry}}On the allegation of industrial plot being allotted to the chief minister’s wife by the industry department headed by him, the JMM leader said land has also been allotted to others at the site, but she was unfairly being singled out.
{{/usCountry}}Hitting back at the opposition BJP, the JMM leader said they would very soon be coming up with revelations about people who got land under “Momentum Jharkhand”, the global summit organised under the Raghubar Das government.
Congress backs CM
Meanwhile, Congress, a constituent in the ruling alliance headed by JMM, also backed the chief minister. “If allegations have been made, an inquiry will clarify. The CM has already surrendered the lease, which was an old one. I don’t think correcting the mistake can be described as crime,” said Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur.