Jharkhand’s governing JMM said on Tuesday that it will file a lawsuit against state BJP chairman Babulal Marandi for accusing him of defaming chairman Minister Hemant Soren with a statement about the JMM leader’s ‘absence’ in Ranchi.
JMM spokesman Supriyo Bhattacharya stated that a similar lawsuit will be brought over a BJP MP who ‘tweets regularly’, implying Nishikant Dubey. In response to his comments, the saffron party stated that while the governing party can certainly go to court, its argument would not hold up to legal scrutiny. The JMM additionally inquired about the purpose of the ED officers’ visit to Soren’s official house in Delhi on Monday, given that he was slated to be questioned by the federal agency on January 31.
“The CM is not only a normal human being but also an important\ part of the state. However, how the BJP made claims against the person and institution meets the criteria under Section 499 of the CrPC (Defamation).”We are going to file a charge against the president and an opposing politician who frequently tweets,” the official said. Soren went to New Delhi on the night of January 27. Despite the uncertainty surrounding his location, he arrived at his official house in Ranchi on the evening of Monday and Tuesday.
When he wrote on X: “People breathed a collective sigh of comfort as chief minister Hemant Soren, who escaped on foot out of his Delhi house late on the evening of January 28, came to the CM residence in Ranchi in complete safety, almost 40 hours later.” Marandi, an earlier chief minister, too criticized Soren, stating how much hardship he had encountered while rushing to cross the 1,295-kilometer trek from Delhi to Jharkhand. “Set aside regarding Delhi, It appears that Hemant ji will not even think of going somewhere beyond the state of Jharkhand, neither by road or air, soon,” Marandi stated.
The federal agency raided the JMM leader’s 5/1 Shanti Niketan apartment in south Delhi on Monday and stayed there for about 13 hours to interview him, according to authorities. They added that the ED recovered Rs 36 lakh, a BMW SUV, and other ‘incriminating’ paperwork from the location. Regarding the ‘ recovery’ of Rs 36 lakh, the JMM spokesman stated, ‘Wasn’t that arranged by ED and Babulal (Marandi) Ji? They have been treating him (Soren) as a criminal, but I want to clarify that our Chief Minister is not frightened of anyone. Citing the ED’s confiscation of cash from Soren’s house, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey questioned whether the chief minister had been concealing his ‘billions’ of rupees despite going missing for 50 hours.
In a dig at the JMM leader, the Godda MP said that his father, Shibu Soran, had similarly gone AWOL for 21 days while serving as a Union minister and that the son had inherited some of his characteristics. The JMM additionally inquired about the purpose of the ED officers’ visit to Soren’s official house in Delhi on Monday, given that he was slated to be questioned by the federal agency on January 31. The agency interrogated Soren on January 20 with a land fraud investigation and issued a new summons, requesting that he confirm his availability for interrogation on either January 29 or January 31.
Bhattacharya went on to say, “When the state’s chief minister Hemant Soren contacted the ED to take down what he said on January 31, why did they approach his official place of residence in Delhi yesterday?” Soren notified the ED via email on Sunday that the agency is ready for interrogation on Wednesday at 1 pm at his house in Ranchi.
In response to JMM’s warning to take legal steps, senior BJP leader CP Singh stated that the saffron party has made no statements that qualify for a Defamation lawsuit.
“If JMM wants to go to court, then they can. But the case will not stand up to judicial scrutiny. In politics, people blame each other. “The truth is, they (JMM) feel paranoid and annoyed,” Singh stated.