When West Bengal police caught three Jharkhand Congress MLAs and allegedly recovered a huge cache of money from their possession a few weeks ago, speculations of ‘Operation Lotus’ to allegedly topple the Hemant Soren government started doing the rounds in and outside the state. Many political observers believed it to be a clear-cut indication to destabilise the coalition government of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
But the Hemant government has survived so far and will seek a trust vote on September 5. The UPA MLAs, who had been shifted to Raipur amid speculations over the fate of the state government, will take part in the one-day session of the Jharkhand assembly where Hemant will seek the trust vote.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been under the radar of the Central agencies for some time. About ten days ago, the Election Commission had sent its opinion in a sealed cover to the Governor on the allegation of office of profit levelled against Hemant, who had allegedly taken a mining lease in his name.
It prompted Hemant to convene a meeting with UPA MLAs on August 26 at the Chief Minister's residence to decide on the strategy to deal with the crisis, which had surcharged the political atmosphere in the state. Later, he left the meeting to attend an official ceremony at Netarhat in Latehar district where he hit out at the central government while listing his achievements. “For the last five months, a conspiracy is being hatched to oust me from power. The central agencies have been after us ever since the state asked for its dues of Rs 1.36 lakh crore from the Centre,” he alleged.
In a tweet also, he took on the Centre and the BJP. "No matter how big a plot is hatched against me by the central government and the BJP, it doesn't matter. I am the son of tribal, son of Jharkhand. We do not get intimidated, but fight back. Our ancestors removed fear from our minds long ago. There is no place for fear and intimidation in the DNA of the tribals like us,” he said. On his return from Netarhat, he held another meeting with the UPA MLAs in the evening.
Ahead of the trust vote, the government appears to have nothing to worry about as far as numbers are concerned. As of now, 41 MLAs are needed to prove a majority in the 81-member assembly. The UPA alliance already has 49 MLAs, including 30 of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), 18 of Congress and one of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Even if the membership of three controversial Congress MLAs, who were caught with cash, goes away, it should not make any difference to the fate of the government. That is why a confident JMM has made it clear that Hemant has no alternative but himself.
Nonetheless, if his membership goes over the office-of-profit issue, the UPA will have to elect a new leader in his place. The name of Hemant's wife Kalpana Soren as his possible successor is being speculated in political circles. The other names include Shibu Soren and Champai Soren, but it will be clear only after the Governor issues an adverse order in this regard.
Political observers believe that Hemant was probably aware of the impending crisis, as he stepped up announcements for several populist decisions in recent times. He also remained focused on keeping the UPA MLAs united against any possible poaching bid by the BJP to break his government.
The matter pertaining to the termination of assembly membership of Hemant on the charge of taking a mining lease in his name is quite interesting. On August 24, a letter from the Election Commission reached Raj Bhavan under a sealed cover. The text of the letter immediately became public. It is said, even before the envelope reached Raj Bhavan, BJP MP from Godda Nishikant Dubey tweeted about its alleged content. Independent MLA Saryu Roy, who defeated former Chief Minister Raghubar Das in the last assembly polls, went a step ahead and tweeted, "The Election Commission has considered Hemant Soren's mining lease case as an office-of-profit case and recommended his disqualification.”
However, it is for the Governor to decide if it is a case of office-of-profit or corrupt practice. Under the laws, there is a provision for disqualification from contesting elections for five years if charges of corrupt practices are proven.
There has been no formal confirmation on the issue either from the Election Commission or Raj Bhavan. But as soon as the news went viral in the media, Hemant asserted no such message had come to the Chief Minister's Office. He accused a BJP MP and a section of the media of spreading the news ‘as if they have prepared the draft'.
It has been about more than ten days since the news of the Election Commission's letter came but there has been no order yet from Raj Bhavan. The UPA leaders have since asked Raj Bhavan to issue the order without any delay since an atmosphere of horse trading had been created. Amid mounting suspension, the UPA MLAs were shifted to Raipur and they had all returned now to take part in the trust vote on September 5.
It was in February this year that a few senior leaders of the state BJP met the Governor and accused Hemant Soren of having allotted a mining lease to himself at Angara in Ranchi district. They demanded that Hemant’s membership in the assembly should be terminated and he be removed from the post of Chief Minister since it was a clear case of office of profit. The Governor subsequently sent the matter to the Election Commission for its opinion on the issue and reportedly received it back.
The JMM, however, says that no case under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act could be made out against Hemant. Citing various orders of the Supreme Court, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya and MLA Sudivya Sonu said that the concerned mine was not even operational. They said that the Chief Minister had himself surrendered it in keeping with the dignity of the post.
Political circles have been agog with rumours that Hemant was on the radar of the central agencies ever since the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Mines secretary Pooja Singhal, and her associates in connection with an old MNREGA scam. The agency also seized Rs 19 crore in cash from his CA. On the basis of further investigations, the ED arrested Hemant's press advisor Abhishek Pintu and his representative in Barhet assembly constituency, Pankaj Mishra. The ED also raided the premises of Nishit Keshri, the builder brother-in-law of the Chief Minister's Principal Secretary-cum-Information and Home Secretary Rajiv Arun Ekka, and his close aide Vishal Chaudhary, in connection with the Pooja Singhal case.
Navin Kumar Mishra from Ranchi
