According to sources of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Party, if he is arrested, his wife Kalpana Soren may take his place. Mr Soren will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate today on an alleged money laundering case. There is a risk that he will be arrested by the agency once his statement is recorded.
According to reports, Mr Soren made the news during a meeting of the ruling alliance’s MLAs this evening. The MLAs have agreed since the maintenance of the government is critical at this time.
“We, all the MLAs of the alliance, of Congress, are fully supporting the Chief Minister,” Banna Gupta, the state’s health minister and a member of the Congress party, told reporters Tuesday.
There, however, might be a legal hurdle in Mrs Soren taking over.
Constitutional provisions demand that if the term of the Assembly will expire in less than a year, by-polls cannot be held. In that case, it would be difficult for Kalpana Soren to become an MLA.
Assembly election in Jharkhand is due in November this year.
If needed, legal opinion will be taken in this matter or someone else will take over at the top post, sources said.
The ₹ 600-crore land scam involves a “huge racket” to change of ownership of government land, which was subsequently sold to builders, the agency has alleged.
The agency has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.
Mr Soren has claimed that he is the target of a huge conspiracy.
Stay Update with FELA News!
