Amid Jharkhand political crisis, UPA MLA meets Governor at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi

In the latest development, a delegation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) met Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi. This comes just a few hours after the UPA MLAs wrote a letter to the Governor asking him to "clear the air" on whether Hemant Soren will continue to hold the office of the Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Governor is yet to pronounce his decision on the Election Commission of India's purported opinion to disqualify the CM in the office.

Congress working President Bandhu Tirkey also told the media, "CM is not resigning. Governor seeking legal opinion and has assured situation will be made clear within two days. We also questioned how selective information is being leaked to media, he also assured source is not in his office."

On Tuesday, Soren had sent 32 of the ruling administration MLAs to the Mayfair resort in Raipur to avert poaching attempts by BJP.

Jharkhand political crisis

Soren's JMM believes that the BJP may make a serious attempt to poach MLAs from it and from the Congress in a bid to topple the government in a manner "similar to Maharashtra" and there is a need to ringfence the legislators in a "safe haven." Following a petition by the BJP seeking Soren's disqualification from the Assembly in an office of profit case, the Election Commission has sent its decision to state Governor Ramesh Bais on August 25.

Though the EC's decision is not yet made official, there was a buzz that the poll panel has recommended the chief minister's disqualification as an MLA. The Raj Bhavan did not announce anything on this matter since then.