Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren handing over his resignation letter to Jharkhand Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi today.
Ranchi: In the face of the Enforcement Directorate probing two cases of alleged money laundering against him, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren tendered his resignation from the chief ministership of Jharkhand tonight. As he went to the Raj Bhavan to hand over his resignation letter to Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan, he was accompanied by ED officials. Thereafter, he was taken into custody by the ED and taken for interrogation. The cases linked to him are an alleged illegal transfer of ownership of land in Ranchi and his involvement in illegal stone mining in the Sahibganj district of the state.
Hemant’s wife Kalpana as well as Champai Soren, a cabinet minister and a close associate of Hemant’s father and JMM founder Shibu Soren, were reportedly in contention for being Hemant’s successor as Jharkhand chief minister. However, he chose Champai over his wife due to reported “resistance” from within the family.
After much political drama with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party declaring him “missing”, and claiming he was running away from being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, Hemant “surfaced” yesterday outside his residence in Ranchi and chaired a meeting of the JMM legislators. There were even posters released in the state capital with a Rs. 11,000 reward on credible information about “missing” Hemant Soren.
Hemant also filed an FIR against Enforcement Directorate officials at an SC/ST police station in Ranchi over the ED searches in his south Delhi residence and the seizure of one BMW car with Haryana number plate and ₹36 lakh in cash from there yesterday. He claimed the cases against him as “bogus” and a “witch hunt”.
Earlier, his questioning was scheduled at 1 pm today, and he was interrogated by ED officials for seven hours. Before that, the JMM held a show of strength with the MLAs assembling at Hemant’s official residence. Section 144 was imposed around CM’s residence as a precautionary measure to avoid disruption in law and order after many party workers assembled outside the CM’s residence. It may be mentioned that the JMM-led ‘Mahagathbandhan‘ that includes the Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation have 48 of the 81 seats in Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.
– global bihari bureau
