Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais flew to Delhi on Friday amid political uncertainty over the disqualification of chief minister Hemant Soren in an office-of-profit case.

Though Raj Bhavan sources termed it a personal visit for medical check-up, sources did not rule out Bais meeting senior BJP leaders over the political development in Jharkhand. Bais had returned to Ranchi on August 25 from Delhi after a medical check-up at AIIMS.

“We cannot rule out the meeting of the governor with Union home minister Amit Shah and other senior BJP leaders over the political development in Jharkhand, especially in the wake of the state cabinet giving its nod for a daylong special session of Jharkhand Assembly on September 5 in which Soren is likely to table a confidence motion and prove majority,” a Raj Bhavan source said.

Bais had assured a delegation of UPA MPs and MLAs that he would take a stand on the Election Commission’s recommendations on Soren’s disqualification soon.Following a petition by the BJP seeking Soren’s disqualification from the Assembly in an office-of-profit case, the EC had sent its decision to the governor on August 25 in a sealed envelope.

Though the EC’s decision has not yet been made official, speculation is rife that the poll panel has recommended the chief minister’s disqualification as an MLA.In a joint statement on August 28, UPA constituents had accused Bais of encouraging political horse-trading by “deliberately delaying” announcing the decision.The UPA delegation had asserted that Soren’s disqualification as an MLA would not affect the government as the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD coalition enjoyed an absolute majority in the 81-member House.

The JMM has 30 MLAs, the Congress 18, and the RJD one. The main Opposition BJP has 26 MLAs.Soren’s party JMM believes that the BJP may attempt to poach MLAs from the party and also from the Congress in a bid to topple the government in a manner similar to Maharashtra. To ring-fence the legislators in a safe haven, as many as 32 MLAs of the ruling coalition were on Tuesday taken to a resort in Raipur in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh.

Four Congress ministers returned to take part in the cabinet meeting on Thursday and two of them (health minister Banna Gupta and agriculture minister Badal Patralekh) went back to Raipur on Friday.Speaking to reporters at Ranchi airport, Gupta said all the MLAs and ministers would be returning to Ranchi for the special Assembly session.He added that Soren chaired a meeting in Ranchi on Friday on the drought situation due to scanty rain in Jharkhand.“The districts have been directed to conduct ground assessment and submit reports. A meeting of the disaster management authority would be held again on September 12 and a report would be sent to the Centre, seeking a financial package for drought relief,” the minister said.