As governor stays mum, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren takes his MLAs on a picnic | India News

RANCHI: The grapevine has it, but with governor Ramesh Bais in no hurry to open the letter that could seal Hemant Soren’s fate, the Jharkhand CM bundled 43 of his coalition government’s 49 MLAs into three buses for a picnic.
The fun trip to Latratu dam reservoir in neighbouring Khunti district saw the lawmakers boating and later feasting on “mutton-bhaat”, before returning to Ranchi for more meetings. The three heavily guarded buses stayed parked in the CM’s house, triggering speculation of a post-midnight trip to stop rival BJP from poaching the JMM-Congress-RJD legislators of the mahagathbandhan.
“No idea where we will go tomorrow… But we are ready to do anything at the high command’s call to save the government,” Congress MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey said.

Jharkhand is stewing in a political crisis after the Election Commission sent a sealed letter to the governor this week that reportedly contains its verdict on CM Soren. The buzz is that the EC had recommended Soren’s disqualification as an MLA on charges of holding a mining lease while in office, which could also bar him from contesting immediate polls.
The JMM-led coalition has put up a brave face. State health minister Banna Gupta said the plan was to fight against all odds being orchestrated by BJP to topple the Soren government. “Yehi toh politics hai. Abhi dekhte rahiye (This is politics. Keep watching),” he quipped.
Quite not tongue in cheek, but a BJP spokesperson said the party is closely watching the unfolding drama.
During the day, Soren led the MLAs in clicking mood pictures of the outing and posted them on social media platforms, a move aimed at exhibiting UPA unity and puncturing BJP’s allegation that his government is on a sticky wicket.
Sources said the trip to the lake was planned Friday night to discredit reports that the MLAs were shifted to Chhattisgarh to prevent poaching. Of the six who didn’t make the trip, there were three suspended Congress MLAs—caught and arrested with a cash load of Rs 50 lakh in their car in Howrah last month. The speaker stayed home, another Congress MLA is nursing her newborn, while a JMM lawmaker is “missing”.
The CM applied “gulaal” on a few MLAs and was spotted “whistling” after alighting from his bus at Latratu, where he was accompanied by ministers Banna Gupta, Joba Manjhi and over a dozen other MLAs of JMM and Congress.
The buses rolled out of the CM’s house towards Latratu, about 40km from Ranchi, around 1.30pm. State Congress president Rajesh Thakur said: “We all had a good time. We went boating, had food and then returned to Ranchi.” He also issued a warning to BJP, saying it “should know that none of its attempts of destabilising our government will ever be successful”.
JMM MLA Sita Sorenwhose views are often not hewed to the Soren government’s policies, was spotted speaking to her daughter over video call while on a boat.
The party’s Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji called the outing a good way to bond, other than the regular meetings. “You know how BJP runs its ‘Operation Lotus’ always. We have seen so in Maharashtra too. Hence, it was planned to exhibit that we are united and are absolutely not at all nervous. There isn’t any reason to feel so,” she said.
With nothing much happening at coalition meetings other than discussions on expected possibilities, decisions are being taken by a bunch of senior members. “The entire exercise of holding meetings, hoisting dinners and going on picnics is to keep the MLAs on alert mode. This is an established method to keep an eye on your flock,” said a lawmaker.