Jharkhand CM skips ED summons, goes to Chhattisgarh to attend tribal programme

RANCHI, Nov 3: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday skipped summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to face questioning in connection with a case of alleged illegal mining and went to Chhattisgarh to attend a “pre-scheduled” programme.
He also asked the federal probe agency to arrest him if he has committed any crime instead of sending summonses.
The ED had asked Soren, also the executive president of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to appear for questioning at its regional office here at 11 am but he did not go there.
Addressing party supporters later near his residence, he said, “The ED has summoned me following a conspiracy. Come and arrest me if I have committed a crime instead of sending summonses for questioning. “
“I am neither afraid nor worried. Rather I am emerging stronger. If people of Jharkhand wish, opponents will not find a place to hide,” he said.
Wondering why security at the offices of ED and BJP was increased, he asked if they were scared of Jharkhandis.
He told the gathering that he will fly to Raipur, the capital of neighbouring Chhattisgarh, to attend a ‘Tribal Mahotsav’ during the day, for which he had received an invitation earlier.
The Chief Minister reached the venue in the evening.
During his address to party workers here, the CM alleged that the BJP is making attempts to destabilise his democratically elected Government by misusing central agencies ever since it was voted to power.
“We have identified outsider gangs operating in the State, who are not letting the State’s Adivasis stand on their feet. This state will be ruled by Jharkhandis and not by external forces,” Soren said.
He appealed to the tribal voters in poll-bound Gujarat to abstain from voting for the BJP.
Launching a scathing attack on the BJP, he claimed that the saffron party was not able to digest the people’s mandate given to a party dominated by tribals and locals, and resorted to “politics of terror” by unleashing central agencies.
“They (BJP) possess a feudal mentality and cannot see tribals, Dalits and oppressed growing,” the JMM leader said.
Soren alleged that the present dispensation at the Centre was of traders who believed only in taking not giving.
Claiming that whenever the state demanded its dues from the Centre, it got ED, CBI and court cases in return, he warned of severe consequences if his democratically elected government was toppled.
The Chief Minister exuded confidence that his government will complete its five-year term.
He took a jibe at Governor Ramesh Bais for not making public the content of the Election Commission’s letter to Raj Bhavan on an office-of-profit case against the CM. Soren faces the threat of losing his membership of the assembly in the case.
He alleged that the Governor was possessing the envelope for over two months creating a state of confusion. (PTI)