Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday took a veiled dig at the BJP after news of the Election Commission of India (ECI) writing to state governor Ramesh Bais and recommending the former’s disqualification from the assembly, broke.
The ECI move came after Bais sought its opinion over a complaint received from the state opposition BJP that Soren allegedly holds an office-of-profit by getting a stone chips mining lease in his name.
Taking to Twitter, Soren shared a video of several Jharkhand Police personnel thanking him with chants of “Hemant Soren Zindabad” after the state cabinet passed a proposal to approve compensatory leaves for them.
Soren wrote that one can buy constitutional institutions, but cannot do the same with public support. “This affection of thousands of our hardworking policemen of Jharkhand and the support of the people is my strength. We are ready! Hail Jharkhand,” his tweet, loosely translated from Hindi, read.
Some pictures were shared by Soren’s office as well that mentioned 70,000 police personnel thanking the chief minister for the cabinet decision.
Earlier in the day, Soren’s party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) held a press conference to counter the allegations against the chief minister. Addressing the press briefing, JMM MP Vijay Kumar Hansdak said that a “conspiracy is underway to destabilise the government of Jharkhand”.
He added that some “forces” are unable to tolerate the work done in the state under Soren’s rule. “We will continue to serve the people in the state. Their every conspiracy will be exposed. JMM will continue to work for the development of Jharkhand.,” Hansdak said.
The ECI move comes close on the heels of CBI raids in the Delhi excise policy scam and those in the Bihar land-for-job case – both regions ruled by non-BJP governments.
In a statement, Soren’s office, however, said that they have not received any communication from the ECI or the governor.
“It apparently seems that BJP leaders including a BJP MP and his puppet journalists have themselves drafted the ECI report, which is otherwise a sealed cover report. This blatant misuse of constitutional authorities and public agencies and its complete takeover by BJP HQ in Deendayal Upadhyay Marg in this shameful manner is unseen in Indian Democracy,” the statement said.