Jharkhand political crisis: MLAs return from Khunti district after having quality time at Latratu - 10 points

New Delhi, Aug 27: Amidst the political turmoil in Jharkhand over Hemant Soren's possible disqualification as an MLA in the state assembly for allegedly violating poll norms by extending himself a mining lease, a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party held on Saturday evening to deliberate on strategy for further course of action.

The latest development in 10 points:

• The meeting was presided over by Congress general secretary in-charge Avinash Pande. "All MLAs and ministers have only gathered to discuss the political activities that have gone down in the past few days. We are here to discuss the matter and reach some conclusion on it," ANI quoted Pande as saying.

• Earlier, the UPA leaders along with the CM were seen having a quality time at the Latratu dam in Khunti district of the state. Two Volvo buses carrying MLAs of the JMM-led ruling alliance were seen leaving the CM's residence earlier this afternoon after a meeting of the UPA legislators.However, all the MLAs have returned today, itself.

• At the Latratu dam, CM Hemant Soren was seen with UPA MLAs and ministers enjoying a boat ride near the Latratu dam. He was seen taken to a guest house near the Latratu dam in the Khunti district where the leaders had arrived from Ranchi.

• The development came after a marathon third round of meeting of the UPA legislators at the Ranchi residence of Hemanth Soren.

• In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling alliance has 30 MLAs of the JMM, 18 MLAs of the Congress and one MLA of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

• There is a speculation that the MLAs will be taken to Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh. Prior to the meeting at Soren's house the Congress Jharkhand president Rajesh Thakur said that all the MLAs have been asked to come prepared.

• In February this year, the BJP submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking disqualification of Soren from the House under Section 9(A) of the Representation of People's Act. The Governor had forwarded BJP complaint to the ECI and the poll panel in May had issued a notice to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader.

• Soren has alleged that the EC report was "drafted" by the principal opposition party in Jharkhand, BJP to topple the Jharkhand government.

• The trail of events gained pace after Nishikant Dubey, BJP Member of Parliament from Godda, Jharkhand, tweeted that a letter from the ECI has reached the Raj Bhavan.

• The Chief Minister's office released a statement on Thursday after several media reports speculated that the ECI has sent a report to the Governor about Soren's disqualification. "The Chief Minister is apprised of several media reports about ECI sending a report to Honorable Governor -Jharkhand 'apparently recommending his disqualification as an MLA'. No communication in this regard has been received by CMO from either ECI or Governor," read the statement.