‘Coalition is with CM on mining lease row’

Ranchi: Amid the uncertainty over the future of CM Hemant Soren, who is in the middle of an “office-of-profit” row, Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pande on Wednesday put up a brave face stating that the incumbent coalition government of JMM-Congress-RJD is stable and that everyone is with Soren. He accused BJP of continuously trying to destablise governments in non-BJP ruled states but said it won’t be successful.
Pande reached Ranchi on a two-day visit amid the political turmoil. He said, “We are keeping an eye on the situation and hope that ECI’s verdict will be in our favour. There are prescribed laws in the country to deal with every situation and we hope that the law of the land will prevail in this case too.”
Responding to questions over the stability of the coalition government, he said, “BJP is trying to create an atmosphere of political instability. We have sufficient numbers and the government will certainly finish its term. All coalition partners are on the same boat.”
The EC two days ago served notice to Soren through a special messenger flown from Delhi, asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him for having a mine lease issued in his favour, which prima facie violates Section 9A of the RP Act. Section 9A deals with disqualification for government contracts. It has also asked Soren to furnish a reply by May 10. While Soren is in Hyderabad for the treatment of his mother, sources said he has been taking legal opinions to prepare the counter-charges.
On Tuesday, JMM’s central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee, too, had flown to Delhi to meet legal experts. The CM has also been in touch with retired Supreme Court Justice Ashok Ganguly, Hyderabad Law University’s vice-chancellor Faizal Mustafa and SK Mendiratta, former legal adviser to ECI for about five decades on his case and all of them said it wasn’t any case of office of profit, as alleged by the opposition BJP.
The charge against Soren is that after assuming the CM’s office in 2019, he got himself a mining lease in Ranchi’s Angara block in mid-2020. Mining portfolio is with the CM. The government, however, dubbed it a mistake and cancelled the lease after the matter came to light. In February, former CM Raghubar Das raked up the issue accusing the CM of office of profit and also urged governor Ramesh Bais to disqualify him. Bais sought ECI’s opinion on the matter. In April, ECI sought reply from chief secretary Sukhdev Singh first on the lease row after which it sent a notice to Soren two days ago.