Before Hemant Soren gives out portfolios, a letter ‘leak’ causes a stir

However, the final portfolios announced on Friday afternoon showed very few changes from what the letter purportedly written by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said.

While the Congress officially did not acknowledge the letter, sources said the party was probing how it got leaked. A senior Congress leader said: “The letter appears to be bona fide… We are trying to find out when it was leaked and by whom.”

A Congress source said: “Hemant babu was understood to be miffed that privileged information like who would handle which department emerged in the public domain.”

A leader of the INDIA bloc, which in Jharkhand includes the JMM, Congress, RJD and CPI (M-L)L, also slammed the apparent lapse on the Congress’s part. “He (Soren) is the sole person who has the authority to decide which minister, no matter their party, gets which department. His decision is final,” the leader said.

A senior JMM leader made the same point: “The allocation of portfolios to his ministers is the prerogative of the CM and his alone.”

The letter seemingly written by Venugopal emerged hours after the Soren ministry took oath (the CM had been sworn in a couple of days ago), including four members from the Congress. It said: “Dear Hemant Soren ji, This is to inform you that the Hon’ble Congress President has approved the portfolio allocations for the Ministers from the Indian National Congress, as detailed below.” It went on to say that this was for Soren’s “further necessary action”.

As per the letter, Chhatarpur Congress MLA Radha Krishna Kishore would get Finance, Planning and Development, Commercial Taxes, Food, Public Distribution & Consumer Affairs; Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey Singh would hold the portfolios of Health, Medical Education & Family Welfare Department, and Parliamentary Affairs; Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari would be Minister of Rural Development and Rural Work Department of Panchayati Raj; and Mandar MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Cooperatives, and Disaster Management.

As per the official announcement made Friday, Kishore is the new Finance, Commerce, Planning and Development, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister; Deepika Pandey has got Rural Development, Rural Affairs, and Panchayati Raj; Ansari has been assigned Health, Public Distribution and Disaster Management; and Tirkey gets Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives.

The portfolio which is not in the official announcement for Congress ministers but was mentioned in the letter was Medical Education & Family Welfare.

CM Soren has himself kept the portfolios of Administrative Reforms, Home, Public Works and Vigilance, among others.