Chief Minister Hemant Soren met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday. However, he did not divulge the details of the meeting with the two leaders, asking them to “see the situation (on Presidential Poll) after a break”.
The CM first met Union Home Minister Amit Shah for about 45 minutes and then he had an hour-long closed door meeting with senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. “Now, you see whatever you are seeing, rest is after the break,” said Soren, coming out after the meeting with Kharge.
Although the meeting of CM with Union Home Minister is said to be a courtesy meet, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders said that the Home Minister was apprised of the concerns of Jharkhand by the CM. “Everyone has a regard for the tribal aspirant for Presidential polls, Droupadi Murmu. But, we have some concerns about the State and its people, which the Centre should be made aware of,” said a senior JMM leader requesting anonymity.
He further said that it is the duty of the Chief Minister to appraise the Centre of the concerns of the State and its residents. Meeting with Kharge is normal as Congress is the alliance partner of the State, he added.
However, the two meetings coincide with Kharge going all out seeking support for UPA’s Presidential candidate on Monday. After filing nomination by UPA candidate Yashwant Sinha, Kharge has claimed to have support of 17 parties and of getting more support for Sinha in the coming days.
Also, on June 28 the Election Commission of India will conduct the hearing of the case of the office of profit against Hemant Soren and on June 29 against his brother Basant Soren. The ECI has given both the leaders extensions for the hearing of the cases and it is very unlikely that they would get any further extension.
Notably, the JMM in its legislature party meeting convened on June 25 had authorised party Chief Shibu Soren to take a final call on support to a presidential candidate. The decision was taken after a 3-hour long meeting at CM’s residence on Saturday.
On the other hand the Congress party unit in the State is keeping its fingers crossed over JMM’s moves. “Whatever the decision comes from the JMM it is not going to affect our alliance in Jharkhand. The BJP might try its dirty tactics, but people would respond to it in a positive way,” said a senior Congress leader.