‘CM said he was in ED custody, wanted to quit...I played by book’
Jharkhand governor CP Radhakrishnan defends handling of Hemant Soren’s resignation amid ruling camp accusations, says he received calls saying MLAs don’t support Champai’s govt
RANCHI: Refuting the ruling camp’s allegations that Raj Bhawan was “instrumental” in the arrest and resignation of former chief minister Hemant Soren, Jharkhand governor CP Radhakrishnan said on Thursday that “every democratic norm was strictly followed for the formation of the next government”.
He underlined that it was the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, followed by the chief minister’s office (CMO) and the chief secretary, who informed him about the JMM leader’s custody and his willingness to step down hours before he was arrested.
In a media interaction convened in Raj Bhawan, the governor further claimed that while he was not told on January 31 that MLAs visiting along with Hemant Soren had come to stake claim, he took the minimum possible time to invite Champai Soren to form the next government the next day after he was satisfied, based on legal advice, amidst an unprecedented turn of events, including anonymous phone calls, purportedly by “two MLAs” to Raj Bhawan saying “they were not supporting the government”.
Explaining the sequence of events of January 31, the governor said it was the ED officials who first called his principal secretary and informed him that they had taken custody of the chief minister, and Soren was requesting them to complete his constitutional obligation of resigning from the post.
“They said they are coming to Raj Bhawan for resignation. The CMO also called, saying he wants to resign as he has been taken into custody. Then the chief secretary called, saying he (Soren) is the chief minister and cannot come alone with ED officials. He wanted some of his senior ministers to be allowed to come with him. Then we allowed three senior ministers. They then asked for a few more, so we allowed five. We never said who could come and who should not. But nobody said they are coming here to stake claim to form the next government,” the governor said.
“Then Hemant Soren asked me to accept his resignation. I asked my principal secretary to get it typed. At that time, 2-3 people were standing around me near my sofa. I didn’t know whether they were ED officials or someone else.
“Suddenly, they said they were staking claim to form the government. They came without informing us. They gave us the claim letter, but we accepted that too. ED then took the CM and left. After 2-3 minutes, the present chief minister (Champai Soren) and his colleagues also left. I told them I would call them the next day,” he added.
Defending the time he took in inviting Champai Soren to form the next government, the governor said he was forced to assess the situation and take legal advice due to the unprecedented situation, including phone calls from MLAs claiming they are not supporting the government.
“They told me that 43 (MLAs) have signed. In the meantime, I heard many people giving different statements in the press. One of the MLAs said why should we go to Hyderabad as we are united. Raj Bhawan also received two calls saying they were not supporting (the new formation). However, we could not have verified whether the right person was calling. So going through everything would take time,” he said.
“Still, we didn’t take long. After I was satisfied with their claim, I called Champai Soren at 11 pm. We typed the letter and handed it over to him. At the time of giving the invitation, we gave sufficient time of 10 days.
“We did not ask them to prove the majority within 24 or 48 hours. Then they requested to take the oath the next morning. We said OK. So where is the question of misuse of Raj Bhawan coming from? We don’t understand,” he added.
On the ruling camp’s allegations that the governor in Bihar took barely a few hours to call Nitish Kumar to form the next government, Radhakrishnan said the two situations were incomparable.
“If you go on speaking lies, then that has to be explained. Who asked him (Soren) to resign, Raj Bhawan? It is the CMO who called us saying they want to resign. He clearly wrote in his letter that he was resigning as he was being taken into custody by ED. And on the time factor? Was Nitish Kumar taken into custody by the ED? Did Nitish Kumar disappear for two days? So the governor (in Bihar) took his decision. If I had not taken 26 hours, you would have been asking different questions: What is the understanding you had with them? He has been arrested, and you asked others to form the government. You are free to ask questions, but we go by the procedure.”
He further said that he was open to any probe by the state agencies about the “role of Raj Bhawan” in the incident and would fully cooperate with them.
Reacting to the governor’s statements, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti March (JMM) said the explanation was an “afterthought” since “Raj Bhawan has been exposed”.
“This is a fictional explanation, as Raj Bhawan has been badly exposed in this incident. He is talking about anonymous phone calls that added to the confusion. How can that happen when all 43 MLAs were present in Raj Bhawan when our leaders went to stake claim? He was duly informed that if he wanted the MLAs were in Raj Bhawan even for physical parade. But they were asked to move out of Raj Bhawan. He could have decided the same night. Now that he has been exposed, he is coming up with mere excuses,” said JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey.