Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 6: With the governor Ramesh Bais still keeping the suspense on over continuance of Hemant Soren as the chief minister of Jharkhand, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government won a trust vote with 48 in favour and none against in the 81-member state Assembly in a special session on Monday.
The opposition BJP which has 26 MLAs had staged a walk-out without participating in the voting. It was for the first time in its short history that a ruling coalition government in Jharkhand had moved a confidence motion to prove majority in the House. With Soren winning the rust vote, the political flux over the future of the coalition seems to have settled at least for the time being.
During the debate over the confidence motion, the Chief Minister slammed the BJP, saying, “It [the BJP] only does power politics and does politics of Hindu-Muslim but, I’m also son of Shibu Soren and I’ll not be cowed down.” “The BJP is a party of businessmen and they were trying to buy our MLAs, threatened the ruling party legislators, but could not succeed,” he added.
“In the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP will be wiped out as the people of the country will give them a befitting reply,” Soren added. The opposition BJP and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) walked out from the House during the voting after participating in the debate over the confidence motion.
“There have been incidents of rape, murder and loot in the State but the ruling party MLAs were busy in boat riding and enjoying luxurious life in a resort. They have brought the confidence motion out of fear and nothing else,” charged BJP MLA Neelkanth Singh Munda.
“It is to escape from the grave charges made against him that Chief Minister Hemant Soren had brought in the confidence motion in the House,” AJSU president Sudesh Mahto told media persons outside the State Assembly.
On Sunday evening, over 31 UPA MLAs, who were staying at a resort in Raipur in Chhattisgarh amidst fear of poaching by the BJP, returned to Ranchi to vote in the confidence motion. They were lodged at the Ranchi Circuit House and brought to the State Assembly on Monday in a bus.
The suspense over Soren’s disqualification from membership of the State Assembly and his government’s alleged fall in connection with ‘office of profit’ charges made against him by the BJP, was started on February 10 this year, when former CM and senior State BJP leader Raghuvar Das had complained to the Governor Ramesh Bais in an office of profit case.
The BJP had demanded that Soren should be disqualified as an MLA for securing the lease of a stone mine in his name while being the State’s Minister for Mines. The Governor later forwarded the BJP’s complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for action.
On August 25, BJP MP from Godda, Nishikant Dubey, claimed before the journalists that the ECI had sent notice to Hemant Soren in the office of profit case to the Governor, and his membership would be disqualified from the State Assembly. This triggered a situation of political uncertainty and suspense over the Soren-led UPA government in the State.
The UPA members when met the governor last week seeking clarification on the situation, Bais is claimed to have assured them that he would “clear the air” in two days but instead left for Delhi.
During the debate on the confidence motion, the opposition created pandemonium in the House and trooped into the Well while protesting the ruling government’s confidence motion.