Jharkhand CM fawns on Shibu Soren ahead of PM visit

Ranchi, Oct 1: The BJP government in Jharkhand seems to have sidelined senior party leader and Lok Sabha member Karia Munda and is fawning on Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Friday visit to the state.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das met Shibu Soren, the Lok Sabha member from Dumka, at his Ranchi residence and invited him for the Modi visit and rally at Dumka on Friday.

Modi is scheduled to go to Khuti and later Dumka on Friday to inaugurate a rooftop solar power and launch a Mudra scheme respectively.

Bharatiya Janata Party sources said Karia Munda, on the other hand, has not been assigned any work pertaining to Modi's visit to Khuti despite the fact that he is the Lok Sabha member from the district. Rural Development Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda has been made in charge of Modi's visit to Khuti.

BJP posters and banners displayed in Khuti carry pictures only of Modi and Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

Karia Munda has represented the Khuti Lok Sabha constituency eight times and has been a legislator for two terms.

"It's very pathetic that a senior party leader like Karia Munda has been sidelined. Chief Minister Raghubar Das personally met Shibu Soren and invited him for the PM visit, but did not speak to Karia Munda," a BJP leader close to Karia Munda told IANS.

"Raghubar Das has met Shibu Soren at least three times after becoming the chief minister but has forgotten to make similar gestures to many senior party leaders, including Karia Munda, Yashwant Sinha and others," he added.

Meanwhile, resentment prevails among certain BJP leaders over the appointment of Himanshu Chaudhary, a close aide of former chief minister Hemant Soren, as information commissioner in the state.

IANS