In the midst of rumours that Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand, could lose his seat in the state parliament for allegedly breaking election rules by giving himself a mining lease, buses carrying Jharkhand MLAs were seen leaving his Ranchi mansion on Saturday afternoon.
Today, two Volvo buses were observed leaving the Jharkhand chief minister’s residence with MLAs from the JMM-led ruling alliance.
This evening, Jharkhand Congress Legislative Party Incharge Avinash Pande will preside over a gathering. The ruling alliance consists of 30 JMM MLAs, 18 Congress MLAs, and one Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly (RJD).
The third gathering of the state’s ruling UPA coalition members in two days had been summoned by Soren. Several MLAs were observed arriving for the meeting with their luggage earlier in the day.
There are rumours that the MLAs will be transferred to Chhattisgarh, which is governed by the Congress. Rajesh Thakur, head of the Congress in Jharkhand, stated that all of the MLAs had been instructed to arrive prepared for the meeting at Soren’s home.
“I have no information about this. MLAs are coming with luggage for the meeting because they have been asked to be ready. We will let you know if MLAs are asked to shift somewhere,” Thakur said.
BJP leader Nishikant Dubey poked fun at the Soren-led gathering by saying, “Even after scrambling, just 33 MLAs could convene in Ranchi.”
Soren tweeted this morning that the current brawl had no effect on him because he was a native of the tribal group.
“This is a tribal son. Never have our ways ever been stopped by their tactics, nor have we ever been afraid. Our ancestors have long removed the feeling of fear from us. There’s no place for fear in the DNA of us Adivasis,” tweeted Jharkhand CM.