An attempt to malign my image, says Hemant Soren

RANCHI/DUMKA: Chief minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned him for questioning based on a request from “his friends in the opposition” in a desperate attempt to malign his image before the people of the state.
“The ED has summoned me based on a request from my friends in the opposition. But that is okay. They are trying to prove how powerful ED is. If they can summon Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi (in the National Herald case earlier this year), they can summon a chief minister too,” Soren said in his address at a programme organised by Sahibganj district administration as part of the state government’s ongoing Aapki Yojana - Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar programme, at Sahibganj police line grounds on Wednesday.
“But if they think that they will be able to malign my image by falsely implicating me, they are mistaken. They will get an appropriate reply to this very soon. I am not afraid,” he added.
Sources in the chief minister’s office said that a copy of the ED’s summons reached him late on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday morning, Soren held discussions with his lawyers before leaving for Sahibganj in a helicopter around noon. Soren said he was surprised with the ED’s course of investigation in the state which began in May this year by probing the alleged financial irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGS in Khunti district (which led to the arrest of Puja Singhal).
“Then, they entered Sahibganj because it is where the CM comes from (as a MLA in the state assembly),” he claimed.
The chief minister criticised the BJP lawmakers for boycotting the ongoing Sarkar Aapke Dwar initiative. “Except for Anant Ojha (BJP’s Rajmahal MLA) who is here today, none from the opposition have attended the programme and are busy protesting elsewhere. We are not averse to criticisms, but they should be directed towards constructive things,” he said.
Soren said the second edition of the ongoing Sarkar Aapke Dwar initiative was fetching encouraging responses from the people as over 21 lakh applications have been received so far.
“A lot is still to be done. If you all give me your blessings, I promise to ensure water to every field across Jharkhand for cultivation in the next five years,” Soren said.
He inaugurated 23 new projects and distributed assets worth Rs 104 crore to beneficiaries of various government schemes before flying back to Ranchi.