‘Did Raj Bhavan ask him to resign?’: Jharkhand Governor denies role in Soren’s arrest

Hemant Soren had stepped down as CM, and picked Champai Soren to succeed him to the post, just before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia”. Despite his arrest, Hemant was allowed to take part in the new government’s floor test in the Assembly on February 5, during which he alleged that Raj Bhavan was involved in his arrest.

On Thursday, the Governor held a press conference in Ranchi and addressed a number of issues that came after the arrest of the former CM.

The first allegation he addressed was related to the delay in inviting Champai Soren to form the government. The ruling coalition leaders visited the Governor three times over 26 hours before they were invited to form government late on February 1 night. While the coalition had questioned the delay at the time, the Governor said on Thursday that “every democratic norm was followed”.

“It was a very peculiar situation, and that is why I had asked for legal advice. A sitting CM was absconding, as per media reports. And the next day, he was arrested. However, as soon as I received the advice, I asked Champai Soren to come by midnight… We never asked him to prove majority in the next 24-48 hours, but we gave 10 days’ time… Every democratic norm was followed,” Radhakrishnan said.

“We were getting a lot of calls on (Hemant Soren’s) resignation. We also received one or two calls from people saying they do not support the new government formation… Even then, we extended our invitation to Champai Soren… So, where is the question of imposing President’s Rule? Writing news articles about the imposition of President’s rule without verification gives a wrong signal to the people, and it makes a mockery of everything,” he said.

“…If I had not even taken 26 hours, then questions would have been asked on the need to do it so quickly,” he said.

On Hemant Soren’s allegation on Raj Bhavan’s role in his arrest, the Governor said, “Did Raj Bhavan ask him to resign? This needs to be explained by Hemant Soren…I am not the authority behind ED. It is an independent body that decided to arrest him, and we came to know about it only afterwards.”

On ruling coalition MLAs raising slogans during the Governor’s speech in the Assembly on February 5, he said, “I don’t understand. I was addressing on behalf of the state government. It looked like they were opposing their own government, and it seemed like they (the ruling coalition MLAs) wanted to take political advantage of everything. Have you seen it happening anywhere else?”

The Governor also had some advice for the new chief minister. “He (Champai Soren) has come from a humble background, and knows what the real needs of the people are… and he should fulfil them. He must eradicate corruption with great willpower. Primary education has been improving through the CM’s schools of excellence and other measures, but special attention should be made towards dropouts. And there must be a separate public service commission for recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff,” Radhakrishnan said.

He also said regular leaks of government exam question papers need to be curbed.