Beat back bid to topple govt since I lead Adivasis, the poor, not moneybags: Hemant Soren

Asked how he was able to repel alleged attempts to topple his government, Soren said: “I am not a businessman, and I don’t represent any punjipati. I represent Adivasis, Dalits, backwards and the poor…. It is challenging for anyone today to work honestly, and we consider this (bid to topple) a part of this… We represent people who are intellectually, financially, politically weak and leaders who come from such a class can only do this (outmanoeuvre). Their leader cannot be a businessman.”

On his relationship with Governor Ramesh Bias, who has not conveyed the Election Commission’s decision — the EC had earlier sent its opinion to Bais on Soren’s possible disqualification over his ownership of a mining lease while being the mines minister— Soren said, “My relationship is not sour with the Governor. He holds a constitutional post…”

The Jharkhand government has faced constant criticism since February this year after it emerged that Soren owns a mining lease. Two PILs were filed in Jharkhand High Court — one on the mining lease, and the other on allegations of money laundering through shell companies — against Soren and others also kept his government on the backfoot.

Soren had on multiple occasions accused the BJP of trying to bring down his government — at one point, he had even sent many MLAs to Congress-governed Chhattisgarh, purportedly to save them from BJP’s alleged poaching attempts. The BJP had denied the allegations.