‘Kalpana CM material; BJP will pay heavy price’

RANCHI: Terming Kalpana Soren, wife of jailed Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren as a “CM material”, AICC general secretary and in-charge of the state Ghulam Ahmed Mir on Tuesday said the BJP will pay a heavy price for its “injustices” meted out to political leaders and people.

Riding on a wave in the favour of the INDIA bloc following the arrest of Soren who preferred courting jail rather than bowing down before “communal forces”, the opposition alliance will sweep the Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, Mir claimed.

“The BJP’s biggest mistake is the injustice they are doing with political leaders like Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal besides the general people of the country. They are going to pay a heavy price for arresting a leader like Soren without any concrete base. The move has increased the popularity of the INDIA bloc and there is a sympathy wave too,” he said.

Soren, also the JMM executive president, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam on January 31.

The saffron camp saw Soren as a threat as such leaders are “rarely seen in the tribal community” and his arrest is a pressure tactic to silence their voice, Mir said.

To a question, Mir said, “Kalpana Soren, based on my interaction with her, is very intelligent and has vision. She has all the ingredients for a CM and if need be, we as a natural ally of Congress will support her.”Speculations are rife that the JMM may field Kalpana Soren from the Gandey assembly seat where a bypoll is scheduled on May 20 along with parliamentary elections in the state.The seat in Giridih district fell vacant after the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad.

Mir claimed: “We have fielded candidates who are grounded, honest and are available to the masses. Unlike the BJP, we are not going to import leaders.” Despite dominating the last three LS polls, the saffron camp was poised for hard times and was facing anti-incumbency, he claimed.