Ranchi: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress took to the streets against the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, sources said on Saturday.
As part of the protest, hundreds of JMM and Congress workers marched to Raj Bhawan and raised slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ED. They also staged a dharna. Protests were also organised in Dumka, Giridih and Bokaro.
Nevertheless, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which has one legislator in the Jharkhand Assembly and which is part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which rules the state, stayed away from the protest. The RJD said that they had not received any official communication about it.
The ED had summoned Soren for questioning on November 3 for questioning in a money-laundering case connected with illegal mining. Soren went to Chhattisgarh on Thursday to attend a pre-scheduled event there. Soren has reportedly sought three weeks’ time from the central probe agency.
According to general secretary of JMM Suprio Bhattacharya, the protest has been held in all district headquarters against the BJP’s agenda to destabilise the state government.
He said that the party would apprise the President about how a tribal head of the state was harassed as part of conspiracy. Senior JMM leader and party’s Rajya Sabha member Mahua Manjhi said that the Central agencies should be transparent and unbiased and keep away from targeting the non-BJP government in the states.
