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Jharkhand CM, MLAs show strength as uncertainty looms
Soren took a boat ride with the ruling MLAs at the Latratu dam in Khunti district, around 40km from the state capital, amid speculation that the legislators were being ferried to a “friendly state” with a non-Bharatiya Janata Party government
Even as uncertainty over chief minister Hemant Soren’s fate as an MLA continued, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader on Saturday sought to send out a message that the ruling JMM-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance was intact.
Soren took a boat ride with the ruling MLAs at the Latratu dam in Khunti district, around 40km from the state capital, amid speculation that the legislators were being ferried to a “friendly state” with a non-Bharatiya Janata Party government.
The two-hour picnic came after four back-to-back meetings of the legislators that Soren has chaired in the last two days since the Election Commission of India (ECI) sent a report ostensibly recommending his disqualification as a member of the assembly to Governor Ramesh Bais.
The Governor is yet to make his decision public.
After two meetings of the legislators of the three-party ruling alliance on Friday, the legislators were called again for a meeting at 11am on Saturday. Hours later, Soren led the legislators and senior party leaders in three luxury buses to Latratu dam.
Ahead of their trip to the dam, Congress legislator Deepika Pandey Singh said it was a “break for refreshment”.
Another MLA, Shilpi Neha Tirkey, said, “We will follow the directions of the party.”
During their around two-hour stay at the picnic spot, Soren and other legislators enjoyed a boat ride, posing for pictures and waving at onlookers and media outside a state guest house, before returning to Ranchi around 8pm.
People familiar with the matter said that more than 40 of the 49 legislators of the ruling alliance joined the chief minister on his trip.
The ruling coalition has 49 MLAs in the 81-member assembly. The JMM, the largest party, has 30 MLAs, the Congress 18 legislators, and the RJD one. The main opposition BJP has 26 MLAs in the House.
A senior JMM leader said the CM was making sure he enjoys the support of ruling coalition’s MLAs.
“He is giving out a clear message to his opponents and also his supporters that all is hunky dory with his government and he enjoys the full support of all the legislators and is ready for any adverse eventuality. These developments also helped CM in testing his own waters. In past two days, the CM in a way ensured an unsaid parade of all the legislators amid rumours of Operation Lotus (BJP allegedly trying to pull down the government) at play in the state,” the JMM leader said seeking anonymity.
Soon after images of the MLAs boarding the buses surfaced, there were reports that the ruling coalition was shifting its legislators either to West Bengal or to Chhattisgarh. Both states have non-BJP government.
Three locations in Chhattisgarh, including Barmuda and Raipur, and some places in West Bengal, were indentified in case MLAs were to be shifted, news agency PTI quoted a Congress functionary as saying.
“All ruling MLAs will be sent to a single destination if the need arises,” another person familiar with the matter said.
Among those who took the bus ride to Latratu dam with the chief minister was his younger brother and Dumka legislator Basant Soren. Basant’s absence from the state over the last few days stoked rumours about his future course of action.
On the reports that he was in touch with the BJP, Basant Soren said, “Yes, I was in touch with the BJP leaders to tell them that their 10 legislators want to join the JMM. They would soon be joining us.”
Basant, who himself is facing charges of office of profit, said he has complete faith in the leadership of his brother.
On the “picnic diplomacy”, Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said, “There is nothing unusual in it. Conspiracy theories and rumours about the fate of this government are flying thick and fast when there is nothing on the ground. It is important to let our opponents know that this alliance is intact and this government will complete its full term.”
Soren faces the threat of being disqualified as a legislator under the Representation of the People’s Act on an “office of profit” complaint that accused him of holding a mining lease over a plot of land in Angara block of Ranchi, people familiar with the matter said, despite his holding the mining and environment portfolio.
Raj Bhavan officials, who declined to be named, said the Governor was to take a call on Soren’s disqualification by Saturday evening and send the disqualification order to the commission.
The BJP, the petitioner in the case, sought Soren’s disqualification for violating Section 9 (A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which deals with disqualification for government contracts.
The clause states that “a person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate government for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any works undertaken by, that government”.
Following the EC recommendation, the chief minister’s office in a statement hit out at the opposition BJP for a “blatant misuse of constitutional authorities”.
“It seems that BJP leaders including a BJP MP and his puppet journalists have themselves drafted the ECI report, which is otherwise a sealed cover report. This blatant misuse of constitutional authorities and public agencies and its complete takeover by BJP HQ in Deendayal Upadhyay Marg in this shameful manner is unseen in Indian Democracy,” the CMO statement said.
Meanwhile, the Congress legislature party also held a separate meeting chaired by state unit in-charge Avinash Pande.
“The state is being led by a young leader as the BJP has been trying to destabilise it ever since our alliance government came to power. The current spell of developments are also a part of it. But there is no difference among the allies and all legislators are intact,” Pande said after the meeting.
With agency inputs
