JOIN USJharkhand CM faces awkward moments with Prime Minister
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren faced some awkward moments on Thursday as BJP activists shouted pro-Modi slogans at a public event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ranchi.
The audience that included BJP activists chanted ‘Modi, Modi’ as soon as Soren, the JMM leader who runs a coalition with the Congress and RJD, took the microphone. Soren, however, continued with his speech as Modi waved at the people for restraint. The shouts carried on all through Soren's speech.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan chose to stay away from an official event in Nagpur, where he had to share the dais with Modi, after he faced booing and pro-Modi slogans at such an event recently.
The Congress was quick to cry foul, particularly after chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana — Prithviraj Chavan and Bhupinder Singh Hooda — were jeered at by the crowd recently. “It is a well-thought-out plan to humiliate chief ministers not belonging to his (Modi’s) party,” AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni said.
However, she said no directions have been issued to the chief ministers on staying away from functions featuring Modi.
Chavan was the first to face the hooting last week when Modi was in Solapur to inaugurate a highway project. The Congress leader had urged Modi to address the issue of shortage of coal in thermal power plants saying his several pleas never got a response from the Centre.
Taking a jibe at Chavan, Modi said the regime has changed at the Centre and he would look into the needs of the state governments into consideration. Hooda faced similar protests in Kaithal prompting him to boycott functions attended by Modi.
The JMM has demanded a public apology from Modi for the hooting “by BJP workers” and threatened that the party would protest every visit by central minister to the state.