Congress hides ‘soft-target’ Jharkhand MLAs; governor invites Champai Soren

Champai Soren was elected as leader of the legislature party of the JMM, shortly after Hemant Soren quit as the chief minister before being arrested by ED.

Ranchi: The Congress on Thursday said it has sequestered its MLAs in Jharkhand to prevent the BJP from carrying out ‘horse-trading’. Congress party's in-charge for Jharkhand, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said its MLAs had been taken to a safe place because the governor delayed Champai Soren's swearing-in ceremony despite getting the letter of support.

Champai Soren was inducted as minister for the first time by Shibu Soren in 2005 when the latter was the CM for nine days.(File)

Champai Soren was on Wednesday elected as the leader of the legislature party of the ruling JMM, shortly after Hemant Soren quit as the chief minister before being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

The JMM-led alliance reached Raj Bhavan around 5.30 pm today and staked claim in front of the governor to form the government in the state. "We will reveal the details about the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow. We have (support of) 47 (MLAs) in House," said JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya.

The Congress leader pointed out that when it comes to BJP and its allies, oath ceremonies are generally organised within hours of staking claim to form a government. He claimed JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar just 5 hours after he announced an alliance with the BJP.

"In the case of Nitish Kumar, he took oath just five hours after resigning. In Jharkhand's case, despite having a majority, they have not sworn in the chief minister. This raises suspicion. The governor has the ‘demand paper’. We want the governor to make a decision fast. New chief minister must be sworn in, the government must be formed," he said.

When asked about Congress MLAs, he said they have been kept at a safe place.

"Many MLAs can be soft targets. We wouldn't have needed to do this if the governor had sworn in the new chief minister. We took a safe side based of our assessment of his intentions. We have not kept our MLAs in the open, we have kept the MLAs at a safe place," he added.

Champai Soren said on Thursday that he was waiting for an invite from the Raj Bhavan to form a government in Jharkhand. He said his party had submitted the document proving support of 47 MLAs.

"We yesterday handed over a letter of support from 43 MLAs to the governor yesterday. Now we have the support of 47 legislators," he said.

“We are waiting for 15-16 hours whereas oaths are administered within two hours of stake claim and invite in other states,” he added.

Hemant Soren was arrested on Wednesday night in connection with a money laundering case.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Friday a plea challenging Soren's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.

His lawyers withdrew their plea in the Jharkhand high court today and moved the Supreme Court.

"We will be withdrawing the petition in the high court... The manner of arrest just before the general elections has an adverse impact on polity of the country," Kapil Sibal told a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The case against Hemant Soren is linked to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand.

With inputs from ANI, PTI