Have no regrets about my mining lease:Soren

RANCHI: Describing the state opposition as ‘leaderless’ and ‘issueless’, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday underlined that he has no ‘regrets’ for getting his stone mining lease renewed and the issue was a mere political tool of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to corner him as the latter is not being able to challenge him politically.

Interacting with reporters at his residence on completion of three years in office, Soren said, “I had this lease in my name since I had not even entered politics. Later, I became a Rajya Sabha member, then an MLA, deputy CM, CM, and leader of the opposition. It did not bother the Opposition till then.”

“I don’t regret it (getting it renewed) as they are attacking me now because they know this government is very strong, especially because the Opposition itself is very weak. They can’t challenge me politically, so they are trying this and misusing central agencies,” the CM said.

The BJP had in February this year approached the governor seeking disqualification of Soren from the assembly, alleging that he violated the Representation of People’s Act by holding an office-of-profit by granting himself a stone mining lease. Governor Ramesh Bais had referred to the Election Commission of India for its opinion. The election body after conducting a hearing sent its opinion on August 25 to the Jharkhand Raj Bhawan which is yet to come up with its final order.

Reacting to a specific question over his equations with the incumbent governor, Soren, who heads the JMM-Congress-RJD combined government, said it seems the governor is involved in a double game.

“I didn’t have any bitterness (against the governor) as such. He holds a constitutional post and hence it won’t be right to comment against him. However, creating incidents plays up as if he is involved in some double game. The governor recently said that he has now started understanding the politics of the state. I don’t know if this role is to do politics or discharge duties holding a constitutional post,” said Soren.

Hitting out at the BJP alleging misuse of central agencies, Soren said people shouldn’t be surprised if he gets arrested.

“There should be no surprises. Who is Hemant Soren when Shibu Soren was not spared? He was arrested when he was a coal minister. People like us are targeted because we are the voice of the Dalits, poor and the weakest section of the society,” said Soren, while replying to a specific question what are his future plans if he is arrested by the central agency.

The JMM leader also shot down assertions that his government has taken several quick decisions, especially the ideological issues which were also in electrical promise, in 2022 with an eye on the possibility of an early election in wake of the series of actions against his government recently.

“Unlike the BJP, we are not always in election mode. In fact, some of these decisions should have been taken 20 years back. Why should OBCs wait for (increased) reservation in last year of the tenure (of the government)? They should in fact have got this 20 years back,” said Soren.

Underling that a lot needs to be done in the remaining two years of his incumbent tenure, Soren said 2023 is going to be a year of ‘implementation’ of the programmes and schemes launched by his government. “Sowing the seeds does not guarantee a good harvest. It needs maintenance, watering, and manures. The next year our focus would be on realising the targets fixed under different schemes,” he said.

The chief minister reiterated that his government is working out alternate plans to ensure job seekers are not affected by the HC decision to scrap their employment policy, even as he underlined that his first priority is to give jobs to locals and the Adivasis.