Jharkhand ruling alliance shift MLAs to prevent horse trading
Amid clouds of disqualification looming over Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, the allies in power — Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have shifted MLAs to Khunti district to prevent horse trading on Saturday. The MLAs left CM's house in three buses after the third meeting within 24 hours. They brought their luggage when they arrived at the CM's house.
- The ruling alliance fears that the Opposition could poach their MLAs and topple their government.
- The Election Commission (ECI) had recommended Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais to disqualify Soren from the Assembly for illegally granting himself a stone quarry mining lease by holding an office of profit.
- The BJP filed a complaint with the governor following which he sought ECI's opinion on the matter.
On Saturday morning, denying claims of moving MLAs, Soren had said that 'resort politics' was not in their DNA, referring to the precedent of shifting lawmakers to undisclosed resorts to persuade them and topple governments. Later in the day, however, PTI reported JMM sources saying that resort politics was the need of the hour.
Two buses, carrying Jharkhand MLAs, left from CM Hemant Soren's residence earlier this afternoon after a meeting of the UPA legislators.
— ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2022
Pics from inside the buses. pic.twitter.com/nGodgPV7FY
Governor Bais is likely to send the order disqualifying Soren as an MLA to ECI, Raj Bhavan sources reportedly told PTI. Earlier, Bais refrained from commenting on the issue saying he would be able to make a remark after returning from AIIMS, Delhi.
Meanwhile, there are reports of security being beefed up at the Mayfair Hotel in Chhattisgarh's Raipur — which is a Congress-ruled state — where some Jharkhand MLAs are likely to arrive on Sunday morning. Soren and MLAs reached a location near Latratu dam in Khunti and maintained that they were camping there just for the night and would return to Ranchi the next morning.
BJP has been calling for the assembly to be dissolved and mid-term polls to be held in all constituencies. They also asked CM Soren to step down on moral grounds. On the other hand, JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya claimed that 16 BJP MLAs were in touch with them as they were annoyed by the "constant motor-mouthing" of their Deoghar MP, who hails from Bihar.
The ruling alliance has 48 seats against the required majority of 41 seats in the 82-member House — including 30 members from Congress and one from RJD, while BJP has 25 MLAs. TOI had quoted party insiders saying that at least 10 Congress MLAs were "vulnerable to poaching". In July, three Congress MLAs were arrested in Howrah for allegedly trying to topple Soren's government.
