RANCHI:In a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, 43 MLAs of Jharkhand’s governing coalition expressed their unwavering support for Chief Minister Hemant Soren as their leader in the upcoming assembly elections scheduled for November. The coalition, comprising JMM, Congress, and RJD, holds a total of 48 MLAs in the 81-member assembly. Notably, five MLAs did not attend the meeting.
The gathering at Soren’s residence occurred amid speculation that the Chief Minister, currently facing ED summons in a land scam case, might step down. There were rumors of his wife, Kalpana, being appointed as his replacement from the Gandey assembly constituency, following the abrupt resignation of MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad on December 31.
Soren, however, dismissed such talks in a statement issued on Tuesday, attributing them to the “imagination” of the BJP.
Lawmakers who attended the meeting clarified that discussions about a change in leadership were not on the agenda. Congress MLA Irfan Ansari stated, “There was no discussion on Kalpana Soren,” while Pradeep Yadav, another Congress MLA, mentioned, “All 43 MLAs present at the meeting unanimously supported Soren as the leader of the coalition.”
JMM minister Mithilesh Kumar Thakur asserted, “There will be no change in leadership. Hemant Soren is our leader and will continue to remain so. We will also fight the 2024 elections under his leadership and win by a bigger margin than 2019.”
Sources revealed that Soren assured the MLAs that he remains undeterred by the ED summons. “He told the MLAs that his reply to the seventh summons issued by ED late last month was good enough,” said an anonymous lawmaker who attended the meeting.
Ahmad, whose resignation fueled political speculations, also participated in the meeting. Meanwhile, ED raids in the state, related to an alleged illegal mining scam, continue, including at the home of Soren’s close aide Abhisek Prasad in Ranchi.
“The sleuths have recovered nothing from his home so far. They brought in equipment to break open some trunks, but only found old and discarded clothes,” Soren informed the MLAs.
