The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), on the back foot ever since the BJP levelled corruption charges against its chief minister Hemant Soren, went on the offensive on Saturday , choosing to target former BJP chief minister Raghubar Das by alleging that the mega investments summits organised by the previous government between 2014 and 2019 were a "big, grand scam".
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee told reporters that the party had procured details about "Momentum Jharkhand" conclaves that "expose how the Das government had resorted to an organsided investment scam. And it was only because of this that the BJP suddenly raked up false allegations against the chief minister, accusing him of taking undue advantage of his position _ "office of profit" _ in securing a mining lease when in reality he had already surrendered the lease.
“We were critical of Momentum Jharkhand from the beginning. But now after getting details through RTI, it is clear to us that it indeed was a ‘maha ghotala’ by Raghubar Das. The state government is already conducting a probe and this has rattled Das and his party so much so that they started playing out a new script to defame the chief minister and the government. But they will not be successful,” he said.
Bhattacharjee said, “As many as 238 MoUs were signed during the mega event in Ranchi in 2017. Of these, 13 were signed with foreign companies while 74 MoUs were signed with Jharkhand-based companies. The remaining MoUs were signed with companies of different states of the country.
“A total of 350 plots were allotted to companies during four ground breaking ceremonies held on May 14, 2017, August 19, 2017, December 20, 2017 and April 27, 2018. None of the plots was allotted to any foreign company. Of 325 plots, 320 plots were allotted to those who had not even signed MoUs under Momentum Jharkhand. Out of 238 MoUs, only 22 companies which had signed 25 MoUs got the land.
“What is more interesting is that as many as 11 companies were incorporated barely days before Momentum Jharkhand was held and four of which were incorporated as companies only after signing the MoUs. Those four companies include Asha Gases Private Limited, Hemkunt Aahar Private Limited and Kijalk Agro India Private Limited—all based in Jharkhand _ and one Gujarat-based company, Pratiksha Textiles LLP. Soon, we shall come up with details of people behind these companies to further expose BJP.”
He did not elaborate any further on the exact nature of the alleged scam.
On the ongoing "office of profit row", the JMM leader said that the party had sought legal opinion from a host of experts including S.K.Mendiratta, former legal adviser to Election Commission of India. "He told us that merely owning a mining lease did not come under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act 1951 for disqualification/dismissal for corruption or disloyalty. Also, there are previous Supreme Court rulings in this regard to back up this observation,” he said, adding that the BJP was only trying to create false propaganda over a non-issue.
