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‘BJP poaches MLAs,’ says Hemant Soren amid buzz over Champai Soren
Hemant Soren also claimed that the BJP would be ‘wiped out’ from Jharkhand.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Sunday slammed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for ‘poaching legislators’ and ‘dividing the society.’
The statement from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president came amid reports that senior party member Champai Soren, the former chief minister of Jharkhand, was on the verge of joining the BJP.
“Forget about the society, these people (BJP) work to break families and parties. They poach legislators. Money is something for which politicians don't take long to move here and there,” Hemant Soren said at a government function in the Godda district, according to PTI.
He also accused the saffron party of having ‘brought’ people from Gujarat, Assam, and Maharashtra, ‘to spread poison among the tribals, Dalits, backward classes, and minorities, and make them fight with each other.’
The BJP is in power in Gujarat and Assam, while in Maharashtra, it is the largest member of the ruling alliance.
Hemant Soren's reaction, meanwhile, came on a day when Champai Soren, in a lengthy and emotional social media post, said that he (Champai) was ‘never greedy for power,' but with his self-respect 'hurt,' has ‘three options’: to leave politics, to float his own outfit, or 'to travel further on this path with a companion.’
On January 31, Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged land mining scam; however, minutes before his arrest, he resigned as chief minister, and Champai Soren stepped in to fill the vacancy. On June 28, the former received regular bail from the high court, and on July 4, returned as CM.
The political developments in the state come ahead of the assembly polls, likely to be held later in the year. In his Sunday speech, Hemant Soren also claimed that the BJP would be ‘wiped out’ from the state.
