Underlining that he is unfazed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summon, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren claimed on Wednesday that a conspiracy is being hatched to destabilise his government as the Opposition was unable to take on him politically.
ED has summoned Soren for questioning on Thursday in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state, officials said on Wednesday.
Addressing a gathering at Sahebganj as part of his government’s outreach programme ‘Aapki Yojna, Appki Sarkar Aapke Dwar’, the chief minister said that the people of the state for whom his government is working will reply to this ‘conspiracy’.
“I have also been called (by ED). But I am not afraid. They are trying to show how powerful ED is. They want to show that if they can summon Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, then whey can’t they call a chief minister. If they think they can malign our image, then they are confused. Since they can’t fight politically, they are hatching this conspiracy,” Soren said.
“I am not worried till the time people of the state are with us. The state’s young girls and tribal youth would reply to the conspiracy. Senior citizens, widow and Divyang whose pension has been universalised would reply to the conspiracy,” the chief minister added.
He further alleged that the Opposition is conspiring with the sole aim to destabilise the state government led by a tribal.
“They started with a probe in MNREGA in Khunti. Then they dragged it to Sahebganj (related to illegal mining). This has been done just to stop your chief minister from working. But you don’t have to bother, we will give them an appropriate reply. The only reason behind this conspiracy is to destabilise a government led by a tribal as I am working for the upliftment of tribal, dalits and minorities,” said Soren.
Soren has been summoned by ED after the Election Commission of India (EC) in August sent a report to governor Ramesh Bias ostensibly recommending Soren’s disqualification as a member of the assembly for allegedly holding a mining lease.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has argued that Soren violated the office of profit rules and sought his disqualification for “misusing” his official position to get the lease.
Soren’s lawyers countered the BJP’s contention before ECI saying the mining lease was not executed and he sought cancellation of the consent to operate it in February, which means he did not get any benefit from the lease. Soren contended that Section 9A of the Representation of People’s Act that allows disqualification, was not applicable in his case as the lease is not a government contract.
ED started its probe in the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a first information report (FIR) registered in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district against political aide and ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Pankaj Mishra, who was arrested in July, and others. It subsequently took over the probe into other cases related to alleged illegal mining in the state.