Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Manoj Pandey on Wednesday accused the Centre of тАЬvendetta politicsтАЭ after the Enforcement DirectorateтАЩs (ED) summonmed chief minister Hemant Soren for alleged illegal mining in the state.
тАЬThe ED will work. We will approach the court if there’s injustice. Don’t know if the ED can summon the CM. If so, the CM will respond after consulting legal experts. Is it legal to summon him for those allegations? If so, the PM should also be summoned in several cases. It’s a vendetta politics,тАЭ news agency ANI quoted Pandey as saying.
Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur alleged that the Centre was working to destabilise governments in non-BJP states.
тАЬThe common knowledge that the Centre is working in a planned manner to destabilise governments in non-BJP states. The government said there will be an atomic bomb explosion. When all planning to destabilise the government has been made, summoning is not unusual. The ED should have first gone to Morbi,тАЭ he told ANI.
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Soren was summoned by the ED for questioning on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said earlier. Officials said the chief minister will be interrogated about the activities related to illegal mining and transportation on a large scale with his political aide JMM leader Pankaj Mishra, who was arrested in July.
The Jharkhand chief minister has been summoned months after an the Election Commission report was sent to governor Ramesh Bias seeking his disqualification as an assembly member for allegedly holding a mining lease. While state opposition Bharatiya Janata Party alleged Soren тАЬmisusedтАЭ his official position to get the lease, Soren has refuted the allegations.
