ED has issued a fresh summons to Hemant Soren in a land irregularities case
Hemant Soren will soon resign as Jharkhand Chief Minister and his wife Kalpana will take over, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has claimed after a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA resigned from the Assembly, citing personal reasons.
Sarfaraz Ahmed, JMM MLA from Gandey who resigned from the membership which was accepted in no time, told NDTV that he resigned not due to bitterness but to strengthen the party, coalition and also his leader Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Sources say Mr Soren fears that the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing a corruption case against the Chief Minister, may arrest him. The JMM executive president, the sources claimed, has planned to hand over the baton to his wife.
Mr Dubey, BJP MP from Jharkhand's Godda, said the new year "could bring pain to the Soren family". "Jharkhand's MLA from Gandey, Sarfaraz Ahmed, has resigned from the Assembly and his resignation has been accepted. Soon, Hemant Soren-ji will also resign from the post of chief minister and his wife, Kalpana Soren-ji, will take over as the next CM," he said in a post on X.
The BJP also said the Jharkhand Governor should take legal advice in the matter. "The Jharkhand Assembly was formed on December 27, 2019. Sarfaraz Ahmed resigned on December 31. Election cannot be held in less than a year," he said.
JMM, Mr Dubey said, "is not Hemant Soren's party, but Shibu Soren's party". The BJP MP expressed hope that NDA will win the bypoll in the seat vacated by the MLA's resignation.
This comes after the ED asked Mr Soren to join the investigation. He has skipped as many as six summons for questioning in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act case.
"Since you have not come to the office of the Directorate of Enforcement in obedience to the summonses issued to you, we are giving you this last opportunity to record your statement under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, at the place, date and time, mutually convenient to you as well as the undersigned (ED), which should be within 7 days of receipt of this notice/Summons," the ED has stated in its fresh summons.
Mr Soren had approached the Supreme Court and Jharkhand High Court against the ED's summons, but his petitions were turned down. He has accused the Centre of using probe agencies to target Opposition leaders ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The ED's investigation relates to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand. Fourteen people have been arrested in the case.