Noisy scenes in Jharkhand Assembly over CM's bail issue

Ranchi, Jul 30 (PTI) The Jharkhand Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Tuesday as members of the JMM-led alliance and the opposition BJP engaged in heated arguments over the Supreme Court's decision on Chief Minister Hemant Soren's bail.

The ruling alliance sought public apology from the opposition citing the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate challenging a Jharkhand High Court order granting bail to Soren, while the BJP members claimed that the CM was not yet acquitted in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

The Question Hour in the House was disrupted as members from both sides continued to trade barbs over the CM's bail issue.

As the House assembled around 11 am, Poreyahat MLA Pradip Yadav, who joined the Congress after winning the 2019 polls on a JVM-P ticket, said that the decision of the apex court and the High Court of Jharkhand on the ED's plea suggested that the chief minister had been "falsely implicated".

"It was a waste of time. The projects, which had been in the pipeline, would have been implemented. The opposition conspired to send him (Hemant Soren) to jail. They played with the future of youths and farmers. The BJP members should seek a public apology," Yadav said.

JMM MLA Sudivya Kumar questioned, "Will our opposition reply as to who will be responsible for hampering the welfare schemes of the government for five months?" Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri said, "The chief minister has been granted bail by the court. He has not been acquitted." Bauri's comment led to a heated exchange of words between the members of the ruling alliance and the opposition as they trooped into the well of the House.

Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato urged members of both sides to return to their chairs. However, unable to run the proceedings, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.30 pm.

As the House reassembled, BJP legislator Neelkanth Singh Munda sought to know about the "non-distribution of textbooks" in government schools.

State Education Minister Baidyanath Ram said the distribution of textbooks had been hampered due to the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct during the recent Lok Sabha polls.

"The textbooks have been supplied to every district and they will be distributed within a week," Ram said.

Munda, however, claimed that there were irregularities in the delay in distributing textbooks and demanded a probe.

Bauri said that there has been a "precarious condition in the state, as the government could not distribute bicycles in the past five years and now the textbooks".

After the lunch break, the House again assembled around 2.10 pm with a debate on the supplementary budget tabled on Monday.

The state assembly passed the supplementary budget of Rs 4,833.39 crore.

Delivering her maiden speech in the House while participating in the debate, Gandey MLA Kalpana Soren, wife of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, accused the opposition of using constitutional institutions and sending Hemant Soren behind the bars.

"Truth is now before all. The people of Jharkhand would give a befitting reply to our opposition as they did in Lok Sabha polls," Kalpana said amid an uproar by opposition MLAs.

She said that NDA leaders must understand that they cannot seek votes in the name of Gujarat or by showing false dreams, as this is Jharkhand.

"Here, we seek votes on the basis of work. Every resident of the state is with Hemant Soren, despite several hurdles of the past five months," she said.

She highlighted the impact of her husband's five-month ordeal, calling attention to the lost time that could have been used to serve the people.

Kalpana alleged that the government has not been a "victim" for only the last five months.

"Since 2019, when our majority government came to power, the opposition and constitutional institutions attempted to destabilise it, which is very unfortunate," she alleged.

Speaking on Assam, she said, "Various tribal groups such as Oraon and Munda reside in Assam for years but they do not get due respect." Supporting the supplementary budget, Kalpana said their government has been working for the welfare of the people in Jharkhand.

The Mukhya Mantri Maiya Scheme, which aims to provide financial assistance to women aged between 21 and 50 years, would benefit around 45 lakh women in the state, she said.

Earlier, BJP MLA Anant Ojha raised the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators.

"The Home department has been allotted around Rs 459 crore in the supplementary budget... the home department has the responsibility to identify Bangladeshi infiltrators and drive them out to Bangladesh," Ojha said.

Congress MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey claimed that the tribal population has declined due to an influx of people from outside.

Later, BJP legislators staged a walkout from the House. PTI SAN BDC SAN ACD