‘Am I fleeing somewhere?’: Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren on ED summons

According to the data accessed by The Indian Express, universal pension has been given to 36.2 lakh beneficiaries, entrepreneurial support money has been given to more than 32,000 women who used to sell country-made liquor, farm loan worth Rs 1,700 crore of 4.5 lakh farmers has been waived, 50 students got fully funded scholarship to do masters’ degree in the UK and 9,100 appointment letters were given for government posts in the state.

On his earlier statement that he would win the upcoming elections too despite allegations of lack of jobs and irrigation facilities, and the 1932-based domicile policy in limbo, Soren said: “You will be there to witness the new government. The basics are still a problem in Jharkhand. I have been thinking about what the opposition (BJP) has been doing for the past 20 years. What kind of facilities did they give us when there was a double engine government?”

On whether the INDIA bloc needed a PM face before the Lok Sabha elections, Soren said: “It is the people who transform someone into a face. It is only a recent phenomenon that people are talking about having a face, so it is currently immaterial.” He said discussion would be done on the seat sharing of the alliance.

On the ED summons to him, he said he was acting as per the rule of law. “The ED and the government run as per the rule of law. Wasim Barelvi once said if someone is alive, they have to also appear alive. Am I fleeing somewhere? There are allegations against political people, but aren’t there allegations against these so-called responsible institutions as well?” he said.

Soren said though he was an adivasi, he learned the ways to deal with the ED and the likes of it. He said he was in favour of postal ballots for polling over EVMs.