SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, May 31: Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s body language has changed in the last few days. And it has surprised many in the political circle, including the BJP. And not without reason.
A couple of days back he attacked the Enforcement Directorate, probing the MNREGA and mining scam for not putting anything in the public domain as to what it has achieved in the last 24 days and raised a finger at the agency’s intention. Then, he dared the ED to take any action against him. And now, he unilaterally decided to field his own candidate in the Rajya Sabha election dumping the Congress.
Hemant Soren is apparently facing the worst phase of his political career when he along with his trusted bureaucrats and close associates are under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate as well as the Jharkhand High Court. The ED has clearly told the Jharkhand high court that it has clinching evidence of corruption against the Chief Minister.
First, his unilateral decision to field his own candidate in the Rajya Sabha election has bemused many. A day earlier he met Sonia Gandhi and said that they have decided on a consensus candidate.
He along with Jharkhand Congress incharge Avinash Pande was scheduled to declare the alliance candidate who will defend him at the national level. Then, what prompted him to announce the JMM candidate alone before Pande landed in Ranchi remains a million-dollar question.
Many in the Congress feel that Hemant Soren, by unilaterally fielding his candidate, has created such a situation by design under which the Congress withdraws the support forcing him to go to the BJP fold. “He needs the blessings of the BJP at this juncture when he is embroiled in neck-deep corruption and facing the threat of losing his assembly membership,” said a Congress leader.
In the meantime, the common perception is that the ED has gone slow after Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal went to jail. “The agency began its operation by launching an investigation into the MNREGA scam and is laying its hands on so many issues simultaneously. It apparently returned empty-handed after its second phase of raids. It does not know where the buck stops,” pointed out Independent MLA Saryu Roy.
Roy, Das’ bête noire, also said that the ED is under a great dilemma as the needle of investigation goes to the bungling committed during the Raghubar Das regime too. It is no secret that the power brokers and the IAS officers who are under the scanner of the central investigating agency also wielded clout during the Raghubar Das regime, he added.
Roy also questioned the ED for not taking any action against power broker Prem Prakash if he has destroyed his old mobile and gadgets for wiping out evidence
Meanwhile, Hemant Soren has also resorted to the strategic offensive principle of war, where the best defense is a good offense.
Soren has dared the ED to touch him at its own peril echoing a similar threat issued by Lalu Prasad when the CBI planned to arrest him in the fodder scam.
Political pundits are also surprised to find the Election Commission giving such a long time for the CM to defend himself in the case of granting himself a mining lease. The Commission was initially in a great hurry in seeking reports from the State Government, but went liberal afterwards and granted a long time sought by the CM.
Besides, Soren has also got enough time to chalk out a strategy to defend himself after the Supreme Court directed the Jharkhand High Court to first decide the maintainability of the PILs filed against him. He is sure to challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court if it goes against him and buy the desired time.
The State BJP leaders, who have launched an aggressive campaign in exposing the alleged misdeeds of the JMM government, particularly the JMM’s first family, are also keeping their fingers crossed.
They don’t know the stand of the central leadership vis a vis Hemant Soren. “We can’t predict anything in politics. But it is clear that the BJP will find it hard to defend Soren if it does any business with the latter,” said a political expert.
Among the top BJP leaders, Godda MP Nishikant Dubey has been running an aggressive drive against Hemant Soren and his close associates since the beginning and strongly believed that the ED is on the right track to investigate the corruption cases in Jharkhand and bring Soren and his associates to justice.
“Soren is trying to show himself as powerful as his corrupt regime is soon going to end soon and he along with his accomplices will be brought to justice soon,” he asserted.
He also tweeted today that the ED will soon summon the entire cabinet to understand the crucial policies, including excise policy, transfer-posting policy, industrial policy and smart city policy prompting many to say that the ED’s main job is to detect money laundering and nothing else.
