Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and CPI-ML (Liberation) national general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Saturday criticised “brazen” misuse of constitutional bodies and federal agencies by the Centre as the IT department continued its raid at the residence of Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh in Ranchi for the second consecutive day.

Soren, addressing a function in Ramgarh, alleged that the BJP-led central government has unleashed constitutional bodies and federal agencies on him after he demanded state’s legitimate outstanding dues for the mining done by PSUs in the state.

“We demanded our rightful outstanding dues from the Centre to be used for our infrastructure push necessary for a backward state like us. I repeatedly raised demands to clear Rs 1.36 lakh crore for mining by public sector undertakings in Jharkhand for decades. In return, the central government unleashed federal agencies and constitutional bodies against me,” said Soren.

“You must be reading big headlines in newspapers about ED, CBI, IT raids in Jharkhand. They are carried out selectively against JMM and Congress leaders as BJP leaders “Sab dudh ke dhule hue hain” (BJP leaders are all saints). This trend is evident in all non-BJP ruled states as central agencies are used to harass and topple non-BJP governments,” alleged Soren.

Hundreds of JMM workers marched to Raj Bhavan on Saturday and raised slogans against the BJP and the ED. They staged a dharna, which was participated by several senior Congress leaders.

CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, who is in Ranchi for the Jharkhand Gramin Majdoor Sabha that is to be held in Ramgarh on November 6, said that they would write to President Droupadi Murmu to call back Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais.

“We will be writing to the President, who had earlier been the governor of Jharkhand too, to call back Ramesh Bais as his recent irresponsible remarks have made a mockery of the constitutional norms,” said Bhattacharya.

Governor Bais has maintained silence on the EC opinion on Soren’s office of profit case given on August 25 but in an interview given to a news channel in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) last month, he informed that he has sought second opinion in the case and stated that “one or two atom bombs” can explode in Jharkhand.

Reports had appeared in several news agencies in August quoting sources in the governor’s secretariat that the EC had opined for disqualification of Soren.

JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said: “The protest is being carried out in all district headquarters against the Opposition’s agenda to destabilise the government.” The party, he said, will apprise the President how a tribal who is running the government is being harassed through a well-planned conspiracy.

Senior JMM leader and Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Manjhi said: “The central agencies should be transparent and unbiased. They should not target only the non-BJP governments in the states.”

“It is evident that BJP is misusing the constitutional institutions. Before the UPA government, there was the BJP government led by Raghubar Das in Jharkhand and many big scams and corruptions took place during his regime. But the central agencies remained silent. They are working under its pressure,” Jharkhand Congress working president Bandhu Tirkey said.