Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Friday asserted that the ruling coalition will come to power with a bigger majority next time even as the state government has been rocked by corruption allegations against the JMM leader in an illegal mining case. Soren has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the second time in the illegal mining case and has been asked to turn up before the Ranchi zonal office of the central agency on November 17.
“They (BJP) think they can end our political careers by putting me in jail and levelling accusations? Neither our image will be tarnished nor our political power will decrease,” Soren told reporters, as quoted by ANI.
“Currently we are at 52 in terms of support from MLAs but next time we’ll come (to power) with 75 (MLAs),” he added.
Soren was earlier asked to appear for probe on November 3. He asked the ED to arrest him if he had committed any crime, alleging that the summons against him was part of a “conspiracy” to “destabilise” the state government.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader skipped the probe, citing official engagements, and sought a three-week deferment of the summons.
After the second summon, BJP trained its gun at Soren and said it will be worth seeing what excuse the CM will make this time.
“When he was commanded on November 3, his office released the itinerary of 15 days which is normally issued for one or two days. This shows the chief minister does not want to face the investigating agency and avoiding to face it. Now if he does not turn up this time too, it clearly means he is abusing the constitutional post and constitutional agencies. Let us see what excuse the CM comes up with this time,” said BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo.
(With inputs from agencies)