VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 27: Ahead of the hearing of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Jharkhand High Court, Chief Minister Hemant Soren left for Delhi on Monday to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah to raise his concerns and the party — the JMM — ahead of the presidential election.
Sources in the CM secretariat said that Hemant Soren has left for Delhi and he is expected to meet Amit Shah between 4.30 PM and 5 PM.
The JMM officially confirmed his visit.
“To my information, he left for Delhi and set to meet the union home minister. The chief minister will discuss issues of the state government also,” said JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya. However, Bhattacharya did not answer whether Hemant Soren will discuss the presidential election vis a vis former Jharkhand Governor Droupdi Murmu who is NDA’s candidate for the election.
However, the JMM insiders said that they are not averse to supporting Droupadi Murmu who is a well-known tribal politician. “But we have some concerns and grievances that the central government should address first. This is our stated position following the JMM legislative party meeting held a couple of days back,” said a senior leader of the party.
The JMM may raise the issue of the separate Sarna code, the centre withholding outstanding payment of Rs 1.36 lakh crore to Jharkhand as a precondition.
But political pundits believe that these demands are only a smokescreen as Hemant Soren and his party’s grievances lie elsewhere.
The Election Commission of India is scheduled to conduct the hearing of the case of the office of profit against Hemant Soren and his MLA brother Basant Soren. The hearings are scheduled for June 28 and June 29 respectively. Both of them have already availed enough time from the ECI and any further extension of the hearings is unlikely.
Two PILs namely 4290/2021 and 727/2022 are hanging like a Damocles sword upon him. The Jharkhand High Court is set to hear both PILs on June 30. The petitioner has sought a CBI inquiry into the alleged disproportionate assets of Hemant Soren and his family. An adverse judicial order will land Hemant Soren and his government in trouble.
