Ranchi, September 1: Amid the ongoing political crisis in Jharkhand a delegation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) met Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais at Raj Bhavan on Thursday.
The delegation comprised Congress Lok Sabha MP Geeta Koda, Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu, JMM Lok Sabha MP Vijay Hansda and Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi, former Congress MLA Bandhu Tirkey, RJD leader Binod Bhokta, JMM central general secretaries, Supriyo Bhattacharya and Vinod Pandey.
The meeting comes amid speculations over Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s resignation following the developments in the office-of-profit case.
During the meeting, the delegation also gave a memorandum from over 30 MLAs to the Governor, demanding to declare the opinion of the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the decision on MLA membership of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
“We request you to declare the opinion received (if any) from the Election Commission forthwith. Prompt action on Your Excellency’s part will serve the cause of democracy and further delay will be against the Constitutional duties and values which Your Excellency’s august office is expected to uphold”, read the memorandum.
Through the memorandum, the MLAs further said that a lot of news is being published in sections of media and represented in a sensational way. “All these news items are being reported as being leaked from Your Excellency’s Office and this is really unfortunate since the office of Governor being a constitutional office, the public has very high regard for the same and even a false rumour coming out of the office is taken at its face value to be correct” added the document,” the stated in the document.
The MLAs said that the speculations on CM’s fate are encouraging destabilization of a democratically elected government.
CM Soren had earlier sought an appointment with the Governor in light of the fast-paced political developments in that state. He has also called for a Cabinet meeting later during the day.
Meanwhile, Congress working President Bandhu Tirkey said that the chief minister is not resigning.
“Governor seeking legal opinion and has assured that the situation will be clear within two days. We also questioned how selective information is being leaked to the media. He assured the source is not in his office,” Tirkey said.
Days ago, the Election Commission of India (ECI) sent its recommendations to the Governor in response to the BJP complaints regarding the office-of-profit case. With his MLA election in jeopardy, there are speculations that Soren could make political maneuvers to retain power in the state.
“No unforeseen incident is going to take place. We are ready for everything, the situation is under our control. I will let you know if I will also go with the MLAs,” Soren had said on Tuesday after UPA MLAs reached Raipur in a show of strength. Among those who rallied behind Soren include 13 Congress MLAs, including four ministers and 18 JMM MLAs.
In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling alliance has 30 MLAs of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), 18 MLAs of the Congress and one MLA of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). In February, the Opposition BJP had written to the Governor seeking disqualification of Soren from the Assembly citing Section 9(A) of the Representation of People’s Act.
Governor Bais had forwarded the complaint to the Election Commission after which the poll panel had issued a notice to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader in May.
