A day after being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged illegal mining case, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday said that the rivals are instigating the native tribals to topple the state government, news agency ANI reported.
"There are discussions today that attempts to topple the current Govt in Jharkhand started the day after it came to power. Some so-called tribals who are like middlemen, along with our rivals, are trying to instigate native tribals of the state," CM Soren was quoted by ANI on its official Twitter handle.
"But I'd like to tell them that people can now recognise your conspiracy which went on for 20 yrs. That's why in 2019, they uprooted one engine of this double engine. When the fight for a different state comes up somewhere, remaining conspirators will be weeded out," he further stated.
The ED had called Soren to its regional office for questioning in connection with a money laundering investigation involving alleged illicit mining in the state.
The agency claims to have "discovered" criminal revenues from illicit stone mining in the state totaling Rs 1,000 crore.
Soren was called by the ED on November 3, but he did not show, citing official obligations, and even challenged the central investigation agency to arrest him. He then requested a three-week postponement of the summons.
Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the chief minister was summoned to appear before the ED for interrogation and recording of his statement.
So far, th agency has detained Soren's political adviser Pankaj Mishra as well as two others in the probe.
On August 25, the EC issued its judgement to state Governor Ramesh Bais in response to a petition filed by the BJP seeking Soren's disqualification from the legislature in an office-of-profit matter.
Though the EC's verdict has not yet been made public, there has been speculation that the poll panel has recommended that the chief minister be disqualified from serving as an MLA.
On August 28, UPA constituents accused the governor of fostering political horse-trading by "deliberately delaying" the announcement of the verdict.
To prevent the BJP from poaching government MPs, the UPA alliance flew its MLAs to Raipur on a chartered aeroplane on August 30. They returned to Ranchi on September 4 to attend a special session of the Jharkhand legislature on September 5.
(With Inputs From Agencies)