For more than nine hours ED questions CM, raises questions over summon & Guv role

Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday stepped out of the office of Enforcement Directorate office after more than nine hours of questioning in connection with the illegal mining case Accompanied by his wife Kalpana Soren the Chief Minister in his convoy drove back to his residence around 2140 hours.

He had stepped inside the zonal office of the ED for questioning in the illegal mining case at around 1200hrs. Earlier he came down heavily on the central agencies and role of the Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais before leaving for ED office for questioning in the illegal mining case.

Addressing a press conference at his residence here he said that he was sitting on a constitutional post and was the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. “However by the manner in which summons have been issued by the ED it appears that we people were planning to flee the country, “ he said adding that apart from businessmen never politician has fled the country.

He said that he has been summoned by the ED in connection with illegal mining case worth Rs 1000 crore in Sahibganj which is unfortunate as even in one year across the state Rs 1000 crore is not earned from the business of stone chips in the state. “How the agency came to this conclusion is beyond apprehension… The agency should do a detailed probe before arriving on any conclusion or levelling any allegations, “ he said.

The Chief Minister said that the actions of the ED have created apprehensions across the state and is also damaging the morale of the executive in the state. Hemant Soren said it is a conspiracy to destabilize the state government. He said that since the formation of his government the opposition was trying to destabilize the government and added that ‘submarines which were working under the water in the state have started coming out’. 

Attacking the Governor he said that months back the Election Commission had given its opinion to the Governor who kept sitting on the envelope which means he too was waiting for the right time to open it. It was claimed that Governor had sought a second opinion in the case but when he approached the ECI it said that no such opinion was sought. 

Continuing his attacks he said that ED and IT have started raiding the MLAs of the ruling alliance and as per information he has the agencies will conduct more raids on the MLAs. He said that officials of the Governor is constitutional but in Jharkhand, it appears that the Governor is giving protection to conspirators.

Claiming that the allegations levelled by the ED are baseless as under his government not only the revenue has increased but prompt action is being also taken whereas in the previous regime not only the revenue was at a loss and action was also negligible. He said that his government has not only increased the resources of the state but is also working for the all-round development of Jharkhand due to which faith of people has increased on his government which the opposition is not able to digest as it was on a political decline. “Democracy should be respected but those who work in democracy they should work with impartiality, “ he said adding that he was going to the ED office and give stress on what are the reasons for taking such an action.

He also said that he has written a letter to the ED over the issue and will also hand over the same in person to the officials of the agency. A copy of the letter was also distributed among the media persons who had gathered in large numbers for the press conference over which the Chief Minister said that the media from the entire country had gathered here.

Though he did not answer queries he did say that if stone chips and sand are the biggest sources of revenue earning then they should be included in major mineral while coal and iron ore should be put into the minor mineral list.

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