MLAs return to Ranchi, not allowed to go home until Assembly session

RANCHI:  A day ahead of special Assembly session on Monday, the UPA MLAs and ministers returned to Ranchi, after six days of their stay at a resort in Chhattisgarh, by a special flight on Sunday evening. In between, none of the MLAs will be allowed to go home and will be stay in a newly-constructed Circuit House in Ranchi for another few hours.

Party insiders revealed that the MLAs will be taken to the Assembly directly from the circuit house. Notably, to keep the flock together, 32 MLAs belonging to the ruling alliance were flown to Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. The decision apparently was taken by the ruling alliance in the wake of possible attempts of horse- trading by the BJP.

Amid political uncertainty in Jharkhand, Hemant Soren Government, on the lines of Delhi Government, is likely to seek vote of trust during the special Assembly session on September 5. A letter, sent to the MLAs by Assembly secretariat, revealed that the CM has expressed his willingness to move a motion of confidence to prove his majority in the House.

Political experts said that by winning the trust vote, the state government will try to give a message that despite having majority in the house, the BJP is trying to destabilize the government.  Meanwhile, Soren alleged that the opposition is conspiring to disturb his government and warned BJP of getting a befitting reply at the right time. “The way Opposition is spreading nets for us, all of those nets will be nibbled one by one. The Opposition will be wrapped in the same net and thrown out,” said Soren. He, however, refused to comment on his plans for the special Assembly session on Monday.

Former CM Raghubar Das, on the other hand, called ruling alliance’s plan to seek vote of trust in the Assembly as total waste of money. “Neither the Opposition has asked the government to prove majority in the House, nor has the governor directed them to do so,” said Das. It would just be eyewash if any announcement related to a ‘sthaniya niti’ (domicile policy) on the basis of 1932 khatiyan is done in the Assembly, he added.