Jharkhand Governor meets Modi, Shah amid turbulence in state

Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and apprised them of the prevailing situation in the state, Raj Bhawan said in a statement.

The meeting assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of corruption allegations against chief minister Hemant Soren, who has been accused of granting a stone chips mining lease to himself near state capital Ranchi. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is already probing if it amounted to the CM holding an “office of profit”, which could invite his disqualification from the assembly membership.

The complaint was referred to the ECI by Governor Bais for its opinion following a complaint from the opposition BJP.

A PIL (public interest litigation) on the same matter, seeking a probe by central agencies, is also being heard by the Jharkhand High Court.

“Besides meeting the Prime Minister, the Governor also met home minister Amit Shah and apprised him about the developments related to the state,” the Raj Bhawan statement said.

The matter pertains to grant of in-principle approval for stone quarrying lease in CM Soren’s name on a government land on the outskirts of Ranchi, which was cleared by the mines and environment departments, headed by the chief minister himself.

Soren’s party JMM and its ally in the government, the Congress, have dismissed the allegations and accused BJP of trying to destabilise the state government by creating opportunity for the central agencies to target the Soren family and their associates.

Mining lease documents sent to ECI

Meanwhile, Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdev Singh on Tuesday sent all the documents related to the particular mining lease to the ECI, officials aware of the development said.

Following a reference from Jharkhand Governor, the ECI had written to the chief secretary, seeking relevant documents and their authentication.

“In such cases, the election commission acts as a quasi-judicial body wherein the full bench of the commission led by the chief election commissioner would deliberate on the issue. Notice would be served to the CM for his response before determining whether he violated provisions under section 9A of the Representation of People’s Act,” an official in ECI said.