Hemant Soren, the former chief minister, made accusations today in the State Assembly and in several venues that the Raj Bhawan was complicit in Soren's ED detention. Governor CP Radhakrishnan refuted these claims. Hemant Soren wrote in his resignation letter that he was leaving because he was being detained by the Enforcement Directorate, and the governor confirmed that all democratic standards were rigorously adhered to in the establishment of a new government.
The Governor stated, during a meeting with a small group of reporters at Raj Bhawan on Thursday, that the Raj Bhawan received notice of Hemant Soren's impending resignation on January 31 from both the Chief Minister's office and the ED. "The Chief Minister is requesting to fulfill his constitutional duty of resignation, according to a call from the ED stating that they have arrested him. We were also notified by phone by the CMO that he would be leaving his position today. When the Chief Secretary phoned us after three hours of waiting, he informed us that he was the CM and could not come by himself. Please let him to be accompanied by a few of our senior ministers.
I answered, "Okay, let me take three," but they kept asking, so we gave them permission to bring more individuals. "We didn't specify who was allowed to come or not," the governor declared.
The fact that they are traveling to Raj Bahwan to assert their right to form the government was not disclosed to us. I was asked to receive the letter of resignation by Hemant Soren. It was two or three persons standing here at that moment. I'm not sure if they came from ED or not. Then, without delay, they declared that they were going to establish the next administration. The Governor stated, "They delivered me the claim letter without warning us beforehand.
The letter of support from 43 MLAs was submitted, and they claimed the backing of 47 parliamentarians. We didn't take too long, but I promised them I would call them tomorrow and we would come to a decision quickly. Next day at eleven at night, I contacted Champai Soren and gave him the invitation letter to form the government. We also allowed them a full 10 days to demonstrate their majority in the House. They stated that they wanted to take an oath early the next day, and we both agreed to that. We never requested that they demonstrate their majority within a day. "So, where is the issue regarding Raj Bhawan's wishes?" the Governor questioned.
He added that the Raj Bhawan adhered to all democratic standards with extreme strictness. "In his letter, the former CM stated that he wished to quit since he was taken into jail by ED. "I don't even recognize the ED officials, I don't even know them," he remarked.
The governor responded, "We took legal advice on what is to be done," when asked if they had sought legal advice. It was an unusual circumstance where the CM was not observed. He stated that he could not be located after reading in the newspapers.
The Governor said, "If you are going to tell a lie, that has to be explained," to Hemant Soren's claim that Raj Bhawan was involved in his arrest. Was Soren asked to leave the Raj Bhawan? We were informed that the CM would be stepping down by the CMO. He has stated unequivocally in his letter that he is leaving because the ED has taken him into prison. Did the ED take Nitish Kumar into custody? Did Nitish Kumar really vanish for a full two days?
According to the governor, if he had not taken even 26 hours, people would have begun to raise concerns about Raj Bhawan's tight relationship with the previous chief minister and ask other questions. "It was a peculiar situation; we had to get specific legal advice from the experts about what to do in this kind of extraordinary situation," he remarked.
