Disowned by his own party and under extreme pressure from the ruling coalition, Agriculture Minister Yogendra Sao finally tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday evening. The Chief Minister has forwarded his resignation to the Governor for his final consent.
Sao, in the midst of controversies even before taking charge as minister, was in the line of fire this time for his alleged links with extremists belonging to one 'Jharkhand Tiger Force' in Hazaribagh area. He has been accused of sheltering the Naxal outfit chief and endorsing him for collecting levy in his constituency and nearby areas.
Desperate to save his chair Sao though tried all his efforts and luck before putting in his papers. He went to Delhi to meet senior Congress leaders, talked to Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) leaders and even Hemant Soren to explain his position and innocence but his efforts went in vein due to the adverse report of the probe panel formed by the PCC and mounting pressure from the coalition partners.
Sources said that apart from the JPCC leaders and his Cabinet colleagues, even the CM did not want him to continue with the kind of serious criminal charges against him. A CID probe has already been ordered in the recent case.
Sao went to meet the Chief Minister on Friday evening at the latter's official residence and had an hour-long talk with him before handing over the resignation letter. "I had got my resignation letter typed in the morning itself. There were adverse reports in media against me, which were detrimental to the image of my party and the Government. I have resigned because people have faith in me. I do not want to breach their faith," he said after coming out of the CM house.
"There was absolutely no pressure on me to resign. I have resigned on moral grounds and the CM has assured me of conducting a fair probe in the matter. The people of my constituency stand with me. I want the dignity of the CM and the government to remain intact," he added.
The Congress MlA also alleged that some senior BJP leaders were involved in a politician-Naxal nexus in the State. He said that the role of Hazaribagh SP and senior leaders of BJP should also be probed by the investigating agencies.
Sao had earlier adopted a hostile approach towards the probe committee formed by his own party.
"I have no faith in this committee. The committee has no right to probe me. If anyone can investigate any matter related to a Minister that can be the Congress legislative party leader (Rajendra Singh), State president (Sukhdeo Bhagat) or in-charge of the party in the State (BK Hariprasad)," said the Minister briefly talking to the media persons.
Sources in the coalition said that after Sao's resignation Jamshedpur East MlA Banna Gupta's induction in the Cabinet was likely for a brief period. Gupta's name has been doing the rounds even before Sao was made minister in the Government. At the same time pressure is mounting on other two Ministers - Suresh Paswan (RJD quota) and Haji Hussain Ansari (JMM quota) - to resign because of their alleged links with Ranjeet Singh Kohli alias Raquib-ul Hasan, who has been accused of forceful religious conversion and torture of his wife and national level shooter Tara Shadeo.