VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Sept 10: Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday fired a fresh salvo on the BJP stating it was trying to implicate his father Shibu Soren as well in false charges.
Referring to the BJP, Hemant Soren said “the opposition is so desperate that by hook or crook it tried to destabilize my government. They went to the extent of accusing and implicating my father Shibu Soren in false charges who is aged between 80 to 84,”
Hemant Soren said this on the occasion of 54th birth anniversary of his deceased elder brother Durga Soren during a programme organized in his memory at Durga Soren Chowk in Ranchi.
Hemant Soren said that the BJP has not even spared his father who is in his eighties. Amid the ongoing political battle with the BJP in wake of the ECI order on his disqualification and money laundering investigation, Hemant Soren perhaps for the first time has stated that his ailing father is targeted. Shibu Soren is the Rajya Sabha MP and patriarch of the JMM.
Hemant Soren, however, did not disclose how the BJP is implicating his father. But it instantly became clear that he was referring to a complaint of disproportionate assets filed against his father by the BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey with the Lokpal. The BJP MP has sought a CBI inquiry stating that Shibu Soren and his family members have amassed disproportionate assets, hence, a CBI inquiry is required.
Hemant Soren further charged that the BJP has repeatedly been trying to destabilize his government. He is heading the JMM led UPA government. He is at loggerhead with the BJP and the Raj Bhavan after the BJP raked up the issue of obtaining a stone mining lease in his name while he was the chief minister and the mining minister. The ECI has sent its opinion to Governor Ramesh Bais that whether or not Hemant Soren is liable for disqualification on this ground. It is largely believed that the ECI has recommended his disqualification. But the office of the Governor has not announced anything.
Talking about the state of affairs in Jharkhand he said that thousands of tribals including Nirmal Mahto, Binod Bihari Mahto, played an important role for a separate Jharkhand state. To ensure the tribes’ right of land, water and forest they sacrificed their lives, he added.
“But it seems that our dream has somehow shattered. It is because of the reason that the tribals and moolvasi made this state. But those who had opposed separate Jharkhand ruled this state. These people don’t belong to us,” he said.
Hemant Soren said that in 2019 people of Jharkhand ousted such people from power and he became the chief minister.