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MP Soren faces Assembly heat - JVM pins CM on bypoll dithering

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AMIT GUPTA & GAUTAM SARKAR Published 23.03.10, 12:00 AM

Ranchi/Dumka, March 22: The Tamar debacle came back to haunt Shibu Soren today with the Opposition cornering him on his apparent dithering over facing the electorate once again to become a member of the state Assembly to continue as chief minister.

It’s more than three months since Soren won the Dumka parliamentary seat, but the chief minister has not shown any urgency to become a member of the Assembly — he is obliged to become one within six months of assuming office — prompting speculation that he may hand over reins of the government to his son, Hemant, and opening himself up for attack from the Opposition.

If JVM party leader in the Assembly Pradeep Kumar Yadav raised the issue during Question Hour, his boss, Babulal Marandi, took on Soren in Dumka today, saying that the chief minister was too scared to face elections after his humiliation in Tamar in January 2009 when he lost to Raja Peter, a Robin Hood-like local hero, leading to president’s rule in Jharkhand.

“Speculation is rife in the corridors of power that Soren would contest either from Jama or Jamtara, but I am quite sure he will not be able to win from anywhere in Jharkhand,” Marandi said.

The JVM chief, in Dumka to preside over a party meet, alleged Soren wouldn’t contest a by-election out of fear and hand over his chair to his son, Hemant, who gave up his Rajya Sabha seat after becoming JMM MLA from Dumka.

“It will be a mockery of democracy if Soren hands over his chair to his son,” he added.

In the Assembly, Yadav reminded Soren about the constitutional obligation of a chief minister to become an MLA within six months of assuming office. “The chief minister is yet to resign as an MP. Norms suggest he needs to become an MLA within six months. Last time (in 2008-2009) he remained at the helm of affairs without being elected legislator,” Yadav said.

Cornered, Soren replied in a hushed tone that he was thinking about it seriously and would take a final decision soon.

But Yadav pressed ahead, talking about an “ulterior motive” being discussed in political circles that he would pass on the baton to his son, Hemant. BJP leader and deputy chief minister Raghubar Das tried to intervene by insisting that such matters should not be raised during Question Hour.

But Yadav maintained that Guruji’s indecisiveness was sending a wrong message to the people. “Moreover, his move was going against the spirit of the Constitution,” he said, citing the case of S.R.Choudhary and the state of Punjab, in which the Supreme Court passed strictures against him for making a mockery of Section 164 (4) of the Constitution for becoming a minister for a second term without becoming an MLA.

In Dumka, Marandi lambasted the Soren government for its failure on all fronts. “Bhay, bhook and bhrastrachar (fear, hunger and corruption) have became common phenomenon and the government has failed to counter it. Also, the governmnet has failed to curb Naxalites and the common mass is suffering,” he said.

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