VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 2: The newly formed core committee of Jharkhand BJP held a marathon meeting on Sunday in the wake of the emerging political scenario where the party has barricaded the Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his MLA brother Basant Soren on the issue of the office of profit.
“It was an introductory meeting of the core committee as it has freshly been constituted. Various political issues were discussed besides political activities of the party to expose the failure of this government,” said a senior leader of the party.
The meeting held at the party headquarters was attended by state president and MP Deepak Prakash, state in-charge Dilip Saikia, Dharmpal, former chief ministers Raghubar Das, Babulal Marandi, union ministers Arjun Munda and Annapurna Devi, MP Sunil Singh, MLA Neelkanth Singh Munda and senior party leader Sameer Oraon.
The meeting discussed the issue related to Hemant Soren and Basant Soren as their matter is pending with the Election Commission of India. Rattled by the BJP’s continuous salvo, JMM has now mounted an offensive against the BJP. The JMM heading the ruling alliance alleged that a massive corruption took place during the industry promotion programme ‘Momentum Jharkhand’ during the regime of BJP’s Raghubar Das. Besides, the JMM and the government are also doing legal homework to avoid termination of membership of Sorens from the assembly on the grounds of the office of profit by the ECI.
“We really don’t know what is going on in the ECI about them. But we have discussed this matter. There are strong grounds for the termination of their membership. Good if Hemant Soren steps down as he will have time to elect a leader to replace him. Else, if he is dismissed by the Governor the situation will be different,” said a member of the core committee.
However, the BJP sounded resolute against any retaliation by the JMM on the issue of the alleged corruption in the Momentum Jharkhand.
“They (JMM) were better than us, that’s why people voted them into power. Who has stopped the JMM government and the chief minister to take action if there was any anomaly in the Momentum Jharkhand? Legally and morally the government is on the sticky ground. This government has lost the battle of perception,” the leader said.