Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren on Saturday alleged that the BJP-led Centre got afraid because of the pro-people projects undertaken by former chief minister Hemant Soren and decided to arrest him on flimsy charges through the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Addressing a meeting after laying the foundation stone of a pipeline irrigation project worth Rs 456.62 crore in Palamu district on Saturday afternoon, Champai reminded the gathering that the project was approved by Hemant and aimed at benefitting 96 villages using the water of three rivers — Sone, Koel and Auranga — as the area fell under a rain shadow area.

The project aims to bring water from the three rivers of the district through underground pipelines to feed various reservoirs to meet the water demand for drinking and irrigation purposes. The project is expected to be completed in two years.

“Hemant Babu has been arrested but the work done by him is still visible among us. This project was also approved by him to meet the irrigation needs of people in the area which falls under the rain shadow zone. Previous governments did not do anything for this region. The pro-people work done by Hemant Soren in the last four years even amid two years of the Covid pandemic (the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance formed the government in December 2019) made the BJP jittery,” Champai said.

He further said: “They became afraid as they did not have any agenda to go before rural masses for seeking votes during the 2024 elections (Jharkhand Assembly polls is scheduled late this year) and decided to send our leader to jail by misusing the ED on concocted and flimsy charges.”

Champai, however, stressed the fact that his government would continue “with more vigour the good work of Hemant Soren and defeat the plans of Opposition so that people would teach them (BJP) a lesson during polls”.

He also claimed that the BJP only relies on “propaganda” and adopts a step-motherly attitude towards the Opposition-ruled state.

“Hemant Babu wrote several letters seeking funds for 8 lakh beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana but the Centre ignored it. Finally, we had to use our own funds to build three-room houses under Abua Awas Yojana for rural homeless and we have selected 20 lakh beneficiaries and funds will be distributed in phases for the construction of houses. Similarly, the Centre is not paying funds for Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries which has led to private hospitals in the state
not taking patients under Ayushman cards,” alleged Champai Soren.

He assured the masses that their government would work for the benefit of “every section of society irrespective of caste, creed and religion and bridge the gap between urban and rural masses”.

Cong MP faces ED

Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, on Saturday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Ranchi for questioning in a money laundering case in which the central agency had recently arrested former chief minister Hemant Soren, officials said.

The ED wants to question and record Sahu’s statement in connection with his alleged links with Soren and a luxury car that was seized by the agency from the JMM leader’s residence in Delhi during searches last month, the officials said.