New Delhi: The legislators of Jharkhand’s ruling coalition left for Raipur in neighbouring Chhattisgarh to stave off the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s possible poaching attempt amid the buzz that the governor may announce his decision on Tuesday, August 30, on the matter pertaining to chief minister Hemant Soren’s continuation as an MLA, according to NDTV.
A chartered flight carrying about 40 MLAs took off from the Ranchi airport shortly after 4:30 pm towards Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, and will be lodged at the Mayfair resort there, sources said. The ruling coalition has 49 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly.
“This is not a surprising move. It happens in politics. We are ready to face any situation,” chief minister Hemant Soren told reporters after coming out of the airport.
The legislators had started from Soren’s residence in two buses and Soren himself was in the front seat of one of them. He came out of the Birsa Munda Airport staying inside for some time.
A Congress legislator, on condition of anonymity, said that they will be shifted to a resort in Raipur in Chhattisgarh, a state with a non-BJP government.
Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) believes that the BJP may make a serious attempt to poach MLAs from it and from the Congress in a bid to topple the government in a manner similar to Maharashtra and there is a need to ringfence the legislators in a safe haven.
Also read: Jharkhand: Ruling Coalition Begins Shifting MLAs in Buses from Ranchi to Pre-Empt Their Poaching
Following a petition by the BJP seeking Soren’s disqualification from the Assembly in an office of profit case, the Election Commission sent its opinion to state governor Ramesh Bais on August 25.
Though the EC’s decision has not yet been made official, there is a buzz that the poll panel has recommended the chief minister’s disqualification as an MLA, which is not binding on the governor. The Raj Bhavan has not announced anything on this matter as yet.
The ruling coalition’s legislators have requested the governor to clear the confusion saying they were ready to face any situation.
In a joint statement on August 28, the constituents of the ruling coalition – the JMM, Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – had accused the governor of encouraging political horse-trading by “deliberately delaying” announcing a decision on the chief minister’s membership of the legislature.
There were also speculations earlier on August 27 that the legislators of the ruling coalition would go to an undisclosed destination in West Bengal or Chhattisgarh as the legislators entered the chief minister’s residence for a meeting with luggage.
Later on that day, they left Ranchi in three buses for Latratu, near the border with Chhattisgarh, only to return to the state capital by the evening. A meeting of the Jharkhand cabinet is scheduled on September 1 at 4 pm.
The JMM, the largest party, has 30 MLAs, the Congress 18 legislators, and the RJD one. The main opposition BJP has 26 MLAs in the House. Soren could be disqualified as an MLA after the BJP moved a plea, alleging that he violated election norms by extending a mining lease to himself, calling it a fit case to be prosecuted under laws pertaining to office-of-profit. The party called for fresh elections and demanded that the chief minister resign “on moral grounds”
The BJP, the petitioner in the case, has sought Soren’s disqualification for violating Section 9 (A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which deals with disqualification for government contracts.
The clause states that “a person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate government for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any works undertaken by, that government”.
The issue was referred to the governor and by him to the EC, as Article 192 of the constitution states that on rulings regarding an MLA’s disqualification, the question shall be referred to the governor who in turn “shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to such opinion”.
(With PTI inputs)