Soren to meet governor after presiding over meeting of ruling JMM lawmakers

Hemant Soren has sought time to meet governor C P Radhakrishnan on Tuesday after the latter said he has no information about the chief minister’s whereabouts and accused the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of trying to create “unrest” in the state.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths earlier on Monday swooped in at Soren’s Delhi residence but found he was not there. People close to Soren said he was “around” Delhi for legal consultation, and stressed that there was no need for ED to come “looking” for him since he conveyed to the agency that he was unavailable to appear before it.

Soren returned to Ranchi late Monday night and called a meeting of JMM lawmakers on Tuesday. “A meeting of all ministers and MLAs of the ruling party under Soren’s chairmanship has been called at his residence,” said a JMM leader after the party announced Soren was in Ranchi. Soren’s wife, Kalpana, was present at the meeting.

On Tuesday morning, Radhakrishnan said he did not have any information about Soren and that the JMM workers “are not acting well”. “...nobody knows anything about the chief minister. I also know nothing. We are also awaiting the chief minister’s response. The ruling party’s attitude is not favourable,” he said before summoning the state home secretary and police chief.

Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibiting public gatherings was imposed within a 100-metre radius of Soren, the governor’s residences, and ED’s Ranchi office a day before the agency was expected to question the chief minister at his residence.

An order explaining the imposition of Section 144 cited information about protests, demonstrations, processions, and rallies and said the possibility of such events could cause disruption in government work, traffic, and create law and order problems and disturb public peace.

In a letter to ED, Soren said he would record his statement before the agency at 1pm on Wednesday at his residence. He alleged ED’s questioning was more political and meant to disrupt the functioning of his government ahead of the Budget session of the assembly from February 2 to 29. Soren added he will be preoccupied with preparations for the session apart from other prior scheduled official engagements.

He said ED’s insistence to record his statement reeks of malice and reveals a political agenda to disrupt the government’s functioning and prevent an elected representative from discharging his official duties.

JMM leader Supriyo Bhattacharya said the ED was unnecessarily disturbing the governance in the name of interrogation. “Over seven hours, ED [earlier] put 17 to 18 questions and the chief minister replied to all. Most of ED’s questions were related to purported inaccuracies in the affidavit filed with the Election Commission of India. Three to four questions were related to the plot of land at Bargain,” Bhattacharya said. He added ED also asked about cash deposits between 2018 and 2022.

On Monday, ED seized a luxury car from Soren’s Delhi residence in connection with the ongoing probe into a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

BJP leader Nishikant Dubey accused Soren of destroying the honour and respect of Jharkhand’s people by going missing.