Jharkhand political crisis: CM not resigning, Gov to take call in 2 days says Cong

New Delhi, Sep 01: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemanth Soren will not resign and the Governor will clear his stand on the Election Commission's recommendation to disqualify him as an MLA for alleged violation of electoral law, Congress working President Bandhu Tirkey said on Thursday.

His statement comes after 10-member delegation from the ruling United Progressive Alliance submitted a memorandum to Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais over alleged leaks from the Raj Bhavan which created a political instability in the state.

"The CM is not resigning. Governor seeking legal opinion and has assured situation will be made clear within two days. We also questioned how selective information is being leaked to media, he also assured source is not in his office," ANI quoted Tirkey as saying.

The speculations around his replacement started after the Election Commission of India reportedly told Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais that Chief Minister Hemant Soren should be disqualified as an MLA for violating electoral norms by extending a mining lease to himself.

As far as the numbers are concerned, the UPA alliance has 49 MLAs in the 81-member assembly.

Within the United Progressive Alliance, JMM as the largest party has 30 MLAs, the Congress 18 legislators, and the RJD one. The main opposition BJP has 26 MLAs in the House.

On Tuesday, over 32 MLAs of ruling JMM government flew to Raipur to prevent the BJP's alleged attempts to poach its legislators. Soren's JMM believes that the BJP may make a serious attempt to poach MLAs from it and from the Congress in a bid to topple the government in a manner "similar to Maharashtra" and there is a need to ring fence the legislators in a safe haven.