Soren meets party, wife may be CM if arrested

Ahead of the likely Enforcement Directorate questioning on Wednesday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday chaired a meeting of JMM MLAs to discuss future strategies regarding the ongoing political scenario. After being traceless for more than 30 hours, Soren returned to Ranchi on Tuesday morning and held a meeting with the alliance partners in the presence of his wife Kalpana Soren.

Her presence at the meeting raised speculation in the political circle that the JMM may propose her name as Chief Minister if Soren is arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land deal scam. The JMM claimed that the Central agency’s insistence on interrogating Soren and recording his statement in connection with the land scam case is aimed at harassing him. 

They pointed out that the ED had questioned the Chief Minister on January 20. Thereafter, the ED issued a fresh summons, asking Soren to be present at his official residence in Ranchi on either January 29 or 31.

“It’s beyond our understanding why the ED officials visited the Chief Minister's Delhi residence on January 29, when he had asked them to record his statement of January 31,” JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said. 

He blamed the BJP state president and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi for conspiring to destabilise the Hemant Soren-led government. Meanwhile, the ED seized `36 lakh, an SUV and some "incriminating" documents after it searched Soren's Delhi house, the ED sources said on Tuesday.

The agency on Monday had searched the 5/1 Shanti Niketan building of the Jharkhand Chief Minister in South Delhi and camped there for almost 13 hours in



order to question him in the money laundering case. The BJP had earlier claimed that a constitutional crisis-like scenario had emerged in the state after Soren disappeared without an explanation. Marandi had also announced a reward of `11,000 for providing information about the Chief Minister.

Amid the evolving political scenario in the state, the BJP demanded presidential rule in the state. Talking to reporters earlier on Tuesday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said, “The JMM is trying to propose the name of Kalpana Soren for the post of Chief Minister. A few JMM leaders are against the move. I think this is the right time for the President's Rule to be imposed in the state.” Top sources from Ranchi told this newspaper that all grand alliance MLAs have been asked to camp in Ranchi for at least the next 48 hours. 

The ruling alliance consists of the JMM, Congress and the RJD. Prohibitory orders were imposed on Tuesday in key areas of Ranchi in the wake of the political situation arising out of the Enforcement Directorate's search at the Delhi residence of Mr Soren. "We have promulgated prohibitory orders (under Section 144 of the CrPC) from 10 am to 10 pm within a 100m radius near the CM House, the Raj Bhavan and the ED office in Doranda," sub-divisional magistrate (Ranchi) Utkarsh Kumar said. As part of the restrictions, demonstrations, rallies or meetings cannot be held in and around these areas. "We have ensured that the law and order situation here is controlled. We have beefed up security in the state capital at these key installations in order to avoid the assembly of people," additional chief secretary home Avinash Kumar told the media there in Ranchi.