JMM President Hemant Soren was arrested by the officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday in the land scam case. The arrest came after 7 hours of questioning at his residence in Ranchi, after which Hemant Soren decided to go to Raj Bhawan and resigned from his position as chief minister of Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, the MLAs of the ruling JMM-Congress coalition also reached the Governor’s house and declared senior JMM leader Champai Soren as the choice for the next chief minister of Jharkhand.
“Hemant Soren has resigned from the post of CM…We have the support of 47 MLAs…We have proposed to form a new government. Champai Soren will be our new CM…We have not been given time for swearing in…” Jharkhand MLA Alamgir Alam said.
The resignation of the chief minister and his subsequent arrest came after some high-voltage drama as earlier ED was supposed to question Hemant Soren in Delhi, but fearing his imminent arrest, the JMM leader decided to take a 1,200 km road trip to Ranchi.
At around 1:00 PM on Wednesday, the ED reached the residence of Hemant Soren in Ranchi for questioning in the land scam case. Ahead of the questioning of the federal agency, the JMM leader chaired the meeting of the MLAs of the ruling coalition, which intensified the speculations of his arrest.
After 7 hours of questioning, two mini-buses of JMM-Congress MLA reached Raj Bhawan, followed by Hemant Soren with the team of the Enforcement Directorate. The JMM leader tendered his resignation to the Jharkhand Governor, while the JMM-Congress coalition declared Champai Soren as the next chief minister.
Governor refuses to meet JMM-Congress MLAs
The developments in Jharkhand will be closely watched as things are changing every minute. Earlier, the Jharkhand Governor refused to meet JMM-Congress MLAs, who reached Raj Bhawan to formally announce Champai Soren as the leader of the House.
The MLAs expressed their frustration after coming out of Raj Bhawan and even questioned the intentions of the Governor.
“We have proposed to form the government under the leadership of Champai Soren. We have 47 MLAs and we should be allowed to form the government… The Governor said that he will check our papers and call us…” Alamgir Alam said.
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Published: 31 Jan 2024, 10:02 PM IST