RANCHI: Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan denied allegations that the Raj Bhavan was involved in the arrest of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren in an alleged money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.
"There is no question of misuse of Raj Bhavan. Every democratic norm has been very strictly followed by us. The former chief minister himself has agreed in his letter that he resigned before being taken to ED custody,"
ED is an independent agency and is not under his control, he added.
While taking part in the confidence motion moved by his successor Champai Soren in the assembly on February 5, the JMM executive president had alleged that the Raj Bhavan was instrumental in his arrest after a "conspiracy" was hatched by the Centre.
“This is the first time in the country that a CM, a former CM or anybody has been arrested on the night of January 31. According to my knowledge, no such incident has taken place earlier," Soren said.
“We came to know about Hemant Soren’s arrest from ED and the CMO. It was the ED's phone to our principal secretary saying we have taken the custody of your CM and he is requesting us to complete his constitutional obligations of resigning. So, we are coming to Raj Bhavan so that he can resign. This is the first message we got, Jharkhand Governor alleged.
That is why we had to take legal advice from the experts that what should be done as it was an extraordinary situation, C.P Radhakrishnan replied on why there was a delay in inviting Champai Soren to form the government.
The Governor also rebuked the news article which claimed that he had recommended for imposing President's rule in the state.
“Where the questing of misuse of Raj Bhavan. I don’t understand? One of the leading daily has written that I had already recommended for President’s Rule in the State. If I have given it in writing and it has gone ther. then how I can deny it?” said the Governor.
This is spreading misinformation among people, he said.
When asked about the allegations labeled on Raj Bhavan for taking so long to invite Champai Soren to form the new government, while in Bihar it took only a few hours, the Governor said that situation was different in Jharkhand.
“Was Nitish Kumar was detained by ED, was he disappeared for two days from where he was. If I had not taken even 26 hours; you might have been asking the other question. We have to go through the procedures,” said the Governor.
Referring to the MLAs of the ruling alliance hooting while he was addressing the Jharkhand Assembly ahead of the special session called on February 5, the Governor said that without knowing his integrity they all shouted at him.
“I never go back from my duties even if I lose my life on the spot,” the Governor said.
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