In the backdrop of the Enforcement Directorate’s repeated summonses to Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren, the MLAs of the ruling Jharkhand coalition on Wednesday expressed solidarity with him, asserting that he will continue to be the CM.
Soren had convened the meeting of the ministers and legislators of the JMM-led coalition at his Ranchi residence to discuss the prevailing situation in the state. The MLAs said there was no threat to the stability of the state government.
Speaking to reporters, Jharkhand’s Health minister and Congress leader Banna Gupta on Thursday told reporters that the Soren-led coalition government will complete its full term of five years, and Congress will fully support the coalition government.
Of the 47 MLAs in the ruling coalition, 45 were present in the meeting called by Soren, including 9 from JMM, 17 from Congress and one from RJD. In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the BJP-led NDA has 29 MLAs.
Mithilesh Thakur, a senior JMM leader who holds the Drinking Water and Sanitation portfolio, said Soren will continue as the CM and that JMM will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha and state assembly elections under his leadership. Aalamgir Aalam, the Congress legislature wing leader and Rural Development Minister, echoed the same sentiment. He said that the government will complete its full term.
The meeting holds significance as it was held after the resignation of 70-year-old Gandey MLA Sarfaraz Ahmed from the membershihp of the Assembly, a day after the ED had issued seventh summons to Soren in connection with the alleged land scam. The BJP claimed that Ahmed was made to quit so that Kalpana Soren could contest from Gandey in case of any eventuality concerning the ED summonses.
Soren had dismissed speculations that his wife Kalpana would contest from the Gandey seat, and called it the “imagination of the BJP”.
“There is not an iota of truth in the speculations,” he said.
“The possibility of my wife contesting any election in the near future is completely an imagination of the BJP … The speculation about handing over reins to her by me is a fabric woven by the BJP to build a false narrative,” Soren told PTI on Tuesday.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the ED had conducted raids on the premises of Sahebganj deputy commissioner Ram Niwas Yadav and Soren’s press advisor Abhishek Prasad.
Assembly election in the state is due in November- December this year.