By PTI
RANCHI: Legislators of the ruling coalition partners in Jharkhand on Wednesday expressed solidarity with the Hemant Soren government and said the JMM leader will continue as the state chief minister.
Coming out from the meeting held here to discuss the present political scenario in the backdrop of the ED’s summons to Soren, the lawmakers said they stand united and “solidly” behind Soren and there is no threat to the present government.
Senior JMM leader, Mithilesh Thakur, who holds the drinking water and sanitation portfolio, said Soren will continue as the chief minister and JMM will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls under his leadership.
The meeting was chaired by Soren himself.
“The MLAs of the coalition parties are united, there is no threat to the present government. There was no talk of any change in the leadership in the state,” a legislator said after the meeting.
आदरणीय दिशोम गुरु शिबू सोरेन जी ने हम सभी झामुमों के सिपाहियों को लड़ना सिखाया है।माननीय मुख्यमंत्री श्री @HemantSorenJMM जी के नेतृत्व में झारखंड विकास के नए आयाम स्थापित कर रहा है। महिला, किसान, युवा, छात्र, गरीब, मजदूर, आदिवासी, दलित और पिछड़ो के लिए हेमंत सरकार निरंतर विकास… pic.twitter.com/DMUkxtiM6t
— Sanjib Sardar- MLA, Potka (@SanjibSardar46) January 3, 2024
Soren, the 48-year-old executive president of JMM, has been in the eye of a political storm since the Enforcement Directorate summoned him in connection with its probe into an office-of-profit case.
A statement from the chief minister’s secretariat said “An important meeting of ministers and MLAs of the ruling coalition was held today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Hemant Soren. The latest political situation in the state was specifically discussed in this meeting. The chief minister gave his views on the entire incident and informed everyone about it. All the MLAs expressed their full confidence in the chief minister.”
All the legislators expressed solidarity with the chief minister “under all circumstances”, it said.
“In any situation, all of them (MLAs of the coalition parties) are completely united and they will thwart any conspiracy against the chief minister and the state government,” the statement added.
The legislators expressed confidence in the leadership of Soren and said he is working continuously for the state’s development.
Sources in the chief minister’s office had said that the timeline for reply to the summons to Soren by the ED will end on January 5. The summons, the seventh one, was issued in December last year.
ALSO READ | ED raids Jharkhand CM’s press advisor, others in ‘illegal’ mining case
Soren has skipped six earlier summonses by the ED and accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of using central agencies to destabilise his democratically elected government.
The Election Commission had sent a letter in August 2022 to the then governor of Jharkhand, Ramesh Bais which is believed to have recommended his disqualification as an MLA as a mining lease given to him was renewed during his tenure as the chief minister.
However, neither Bais nor his successor C P Radhakrishnan opened the letter.
Meanwhile, Soren has dismissed speculations that his wife Kalpana will contest from Gandey assembly constituency in the state, which was vacated barely a year before the November-December state election.
Soren has termed the speculation that his wife will be anointed the chief minister as a “complete imagination” of the opposition BJP.
“There is not an iota of truth in the speculations,” he said.
ALSO READ | Jharkhand: Hemant Soren calls MLAs meet, replies to ED
The speculations were triggered by the ED’s latest summons to Soren coupled with the sudden resignation by JMM MLA from Gandey, Sarfaraz Ahmad on Monday.
“The possibility of my wife contesting any election in the near future is completely an imagination of the BJP. The speculation about handing over reins to her by me is a fabric woven by the BJP to build a false narrative,” the chief minister said on Tuesday.
The saffron party has claimed that Ahmad was made to quit so that Kalpana Soren could contest from the Gandey in case of any eventuality in connection with the ED summonses.
The coalition has 47 members – 29 of JMM, 17 of Congress and one of the RJD.
The opposition BJP has 26 members and AJSU Party three.
The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents.
ALSO READ | Jharkhand: MLA quits amid buzz on Soren’s wife joining fray Follow channel on WhatsApp
RANCHI: Legislators of the ruling coalition partners in Jharkhand on Wednesday expressed solidarity with the Hemant Soren government and said the JMM leader will continue as the state chief minister.
Coming out from the meeting held here to discuss the present political scenario in the backdrop of the ED’s summons to Soren, the lawmakers said they stand united and “solidly” behind Soren and there is no threat to the present government.
Senior JMM leader, Mithilesh Thakur, who holds the drinking water and sanitation portfolio, said Soren will continue as the chief minister and JMM will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls under his leadership.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The meeting was chaired by Soren himself.
“The MLAs of the coalition parties are united, there is no threat to the present government. There was no talk of any change in the leadership in the state,” a legislator said after the meeting.
आदरणीय दिशोम गुरु शिबू सोरेन जी ने हम सभी झामुमों के सिपाहियों को लड़ना सिखाया है।
माननीय मुख्यमंत्री श्री @HemantSorenJMM जी के नेतृत्व में झारखंड विकास के नए आयाम स्थापित कर रहा है। महिला, किसान, युवा, छात्र, गरीब, मजदूर, आदिवासी, दलित और पिछड़ो के लिए हेमंत सरकार निरंतर विकास… pic.twitter.com/DMUkxtiM6t
— Sanjib Sardar- MLA, Potka (@SanjibSardar46) January 3, 2024
Soren, the 48-year-old executive president of JMM, has been in the eye of a political storm since the Enforcement Directorate summoned him in connection with its probe into an office-of-profit case.
A statement from the chief minister’s secretariat said “An important meeting of ministers and MLAs of the ruling coalition was held today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Hemant Soren. The latest political situation in the state was specifically discussed in this meeting. The chief minister gave his views on the entire incident and informed everyone about it. All the MLAs expressed their full confidence in the chief minister.”
All the legislators expressed solidarity with the chief minister “under all circumstances”, it said.
“In any situation, all of them (MLAs of the coalition parties) are completely united and they will thwart any conspiracy against the chief minister and the state government,” the statement added.
The legislators expressed confidence in the leadership of Soren and said he is working continuously for the state’s development.
Sources in the chief minister’s office had said that the timeline for reply to the summons to Soren by the ED will end on January 5. The summons, the seventh one, was issued in December last year.
ALSO READ | ED raids Jharkhand CM’s press advisor, others in ‘illegal’ mining case
Soren has skipped six earlier summonses by the ED and accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of using central agencies to destabilise his democratically elected government.
The Election Commission had sent a letter in August 2022 to the then governor of Jharkhand, Ramesh Bais which is believed to have recommended his disqualification as an MLA as a mining lease given to him was renewed during his tenure as the chief minister.
However, neither Bais nor his successor C P Radhakrishnan opened the letter.
Meanwhile, Soren has dismissed speculations that his wife Kalpana will contest from Gandey assembly constituency in the state, which was vacated barely a year before the November-December state election.
Soren has termed the speculation that his wife will be anointed the chief minister as a “complete imagination” of the opposition BJP.
“There is not an iota of truth in the speculations,” he said.
ALSO READ | Jharkhand: Hemant Soren calls MLAs meet, replies to ED
The speculations were triggered by the ED’s latest summons to Soren coupled with the sudden resignation by JMM MLA from Gandey, Sarfaraz Ahmad on Monday.
“The possibility of my wife contesting any election in the near future is completely an imagination of the BJP. The speculation about handing over reins to her by me is a fabric woven by the BJP to build a false narrative,” the chief minister said on Tuesday.
The saffron party has claimed that Ahmad was made to quit so that Kalpana Soren could contest from the Gandey in case of any eventuality in connection with the ED summonses.
The coalition has 47 members – 29 of JMM, 17 of Congress and one of the RJD.
The opposition BJP has 26 members and AJSU Party three.
The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents.
ALSO READ | Jharkhand: MLA quits amid buzz on Soren’s wife joining fray Follow channel on WhatsApp
