I.N.D.I.A. MPs walk out of LS, RS over delay in Jharkhand Guv inviting Champai Soren to form govt

New Delhi: Opposition I.N.D.I.A. MPs on Friday walked out from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha protesting over the way Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan dealt with government formation in the state after Hemant Soren resigned as Chief Minister.

The ruling BJP accused the Opposition of “diversionary tactics”, claiming that they were raising the issue of delay in the Governor extending the invite to hide the “corruption” of JMM’s Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

The protest by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, which refrained from raising the issue during the Budget presentation on Thursday, came after a meeting of floor leaders chaired by Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge before the proceedings started on Friday.

Trinamool Congress, which did not attend the I.N.D.I.A. meeting, walked out separately over the government "misusing central agencies to target" Hemant Soren.

In the Lok Sabha, the I.N.D.I.A. MPs walked out soon after the proceedings started, while in Rajya Sabha too they walked out after Kharge raised the issue.

The Opposition had found fault with the Governor for not immediately calling Champai Soren to form the government despite the JMM-led coalition seeking to submit letters of support. Hemant Soren had resigned on January 31 and Champai had attempted to stake claim. The Governor invited him to form the government on February 1.

Kharge sought to compare the case of Nitish Kumar, who dumped the I.N.D.I.A. alliance to join NDA, taking oath swiftly with the developments in Jharkhand. He said the alliance had support of 47 MLAs and signatures of 43 were already presented but there was a delay in calling Champai Soren.

The Congress president asked why there was no delay in Nitish’s swearing in while pointing out that he resigned in the morning and was sworn in by the evening. “Why did this not happen in Jharkhand?”

Leader of House Piyush Goyal countered Kharge saying that the Congress was not talking a word about the corruption charges against Hemant Soren but raising the issue as a "diversionary tactic". Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also echoed Goyal and said the Congress walked out of the House on Jharkhand issue when the real issue was Congress MP D K Suresh’s controversial comments on a separate south India.

BRS floor leader K Keshava Rao said the issue was whether there was a government in Jharkhand after Hemant Soren’s resignation. He said there was no information about a caretaker Chief Minister and if there was none, it was against the Constitutional scheme of things.