Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 27: The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress members of the Jharkhand state Assembly have been shifted to a guest house in Khunti to keep the herd together amidst apprehension of possible poaching by the opposition BJP as the threat of disqualification from the Assembly membership kept hanging as Damocles sword on the head of the chief minister Hemant Soren.
With the governor Ramesh Bais still keeping close to his chest the recommendation sent by the Election Commission of India in a sealed cover on the issue of Soren’s disqualification, uncertainty was staring at the future of the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government in the state. Though it was still not clear if the ECI had also recommended barring Soren from contesting the elections for a certain period, the BJP has already raised the demand for dissolution of the Assembly and holding fresh elections.
Facing the threat of disqualification from the assembly, Soren and his ally Congress on Saturday rounded up their MLAs – the standard tactic of dodging attempts at poaching lawmakers and bringing down governments.
Following a meeting at the Chief Minister’s residence, Soren and the MLAs got into three buses with luggage and left Ranchi. Later they arrived at Khunti, around 35 km from Ranchi, and were seen going for a boat ride in a lake near the Latratu dam. Though the party sources claimed they planned to return by the night, the luggage carried by the MLAs was clearly indicative that they might not return till the uncertainty blow over.
Before their departure, Soren held a marathon third round of a meeting of legislators of the ruling alliance to chalk out a strategy to deal with the emerging scenario. There are 43 MLAs in the group that was moved, sources said.
“All ruling MLAs will be sent to a single destination if the need arises. All the MLAs have come with their luggage to the Chief Minister’s house to attend the crucial meeting,” a leader said.
Governor Ramesh Bais is likely to send the order of disqualification of Soren as an MLA to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, Raj-Bhavan sources said. The Election Commission had sent its opinion to Governor Bais on Thursday on a plea from the BJP seeking that Soren be disqualified as an MLA for violating electoral norms by extending a mining lease to himself.
“Since our opponents are unable to match us politically, they are misusing constitutional institutions. But we are not worried… It’s the people who gave us the chair… Do what you can; my work for my people can never stop,” Soren tweeted on Friday.
The Congress has said it would back Soren as the consensus candidate. “Our coalition is standing strong. We will back Hemant Soren as the Chief Minister,” Alamgir Alam, Congress MLA, said. The BJP has called for fresh polls and asked the Chief Minister to resign “on moral grounds.”
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey tweeted on Saturday, “According to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) sources, some MLAs reached Chhattisgarh at 2 am. Most of the MLAs are reluctant to go and are waiting for the orders of senior JMM leader Basant Soren. Some buses are parked in Ranchi for MLAs.”
The ruling coalition has 49 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly, the Soren-led ruling JMM has 30 MLAs. Among its allies, the Congress has 18, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the Nationalist Congress Party have one each. The BJP has 26 MLAs while alliance partner All Jharkhand Students Union has two, with support from two other legislators. The magic number to form the government in the State is 41.
Minister Mithilesh Thakur had claimed that the ruling coalition has “50 MLAs (including the Speaker, which can go up to 56” while asserting that they had learnt “resort politics” from the BJP.
Uncertainty over Soren’s government arose after the EC reportedly sent a report recommending his disqualification over allegations that he allocated a mining lease to himself while holding the portfolio of Mines in 2021. The Governor had forwarded a complaint in this regard by BJP MLAs to the EC.
