Two months after the Election Commission of India (ECI) sent its opinion over the office-of-profit complaint against Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, Governor Ramesh Bais has said he does not rule out an “atom bomb explosion” in the state in the Diwali season.
Bais was speaking to private news channel Bharat 24 in his home town of Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday night on the prevalent political uncertainty in Jharkhand, where speculation has been rife that the chief minister could lose his assembly membership for allegedly holding an office-of-profit by granting himself a mining lease in 2021.
Bais, who has been accused by the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD dispensation of acting in a partisan manner by sitting on his order despite the ECI having given its recommendation on August 25, underlined it was his prerogative as to when he would give his final order on the issue.
“I had sent the complaint to the ECI for its opinion since it was related to election (of a person). The ECI has sent its opinion. Had it been my intention to act in a partisan manner, I would have taken a decision by now. However, being a custodian of the constitution, I can’t act until I am fully satisfied. So, I am taking a second opinion on the issue. It’s prerogative of the Governor,” said Bais.
“We are talking of fire crackers in Diwali season. We know firecrackers are banned in Delhi, but not in Jharkhand. We can expect atom bomb explosion in Jharkhand,” said Bais, who was due to return to Jharkhand Thursday evening.
Since August 25, when the ECI sent its recommendation to the Raj Bhawan, Jharkhand has seen hectic political activities, including shifting of ruling alliance legislators to Raipur and convening of a special session of the assembly where the government brought a confidence motion to prove its majority.
In the weeks following the ECI recommendation, a ruling alliance delegation and chief minister Hemant Soren separately met the Governor, requesting him to either make the ECI recommendation public or provide a physical copy of it.
Soren had also written to the ECI seeking a copy of its order, but was denied the same by the election watchdog on technical grounds.
Soren’s party JMM has also filed an RTI (Right to Information) application with the Raj Bhawan seeking a copy of the ECI order.
Reacting to Governor’s remark, Soren’s party JMM said it’s the constitutional duty of Raj Bhawan to end the political uncertainty in the state over the issue.
“It’s Diwali season across the country. So which bomb explodes where is immaterial. However, taking a second opinion over a ruling given by an institution like ECI is like raising questions on the decision of a constitutional body,” JMM general secretary Vinod Pandey said.
Congress spokesperson Rakesh Sinha said, “It’s his (Governor’s) wish whether he wants to explode an atom or a hydrogen bomb. But he should end this stalemate.”
