RANCHI: In what could be the precursor for Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren anticipating his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and preparing his wife Kalpana to step into his shoes, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Sarfaraz Ahmed quietly vacated his Gandey seat on Sunday.
Speculation is rife that Kalpana may contest from Gandey, a general seat. Though she belongs to a scheduled tribe community, she cannot contest from a reserved tribal seat because she hails from Odisha. Her sister-in-law Sita Soren is already facing litigation as she won a reserved tribal seat in the assembly elections, though she too hails from Odisha.
“Since she hails from from Odisha, Kalpana is said to be not entitled to fight from a reserved ST seat in Jharkhand. Gandey, a general seat, might be a safe constituency for her,” said political experts. Sarfaraz represented Gandey in 1980 and 2009 as Congress MLA and in 2019 as JMM MLA. His resignation letter did not cite any reason. it was accepted the same day but the notification was issued on Monday. He was not available for comment.
Just the other day, the ED had its seventh and last summons to Soren to appear for questioning in the land scam case. It gave him the liberty to decide the date, time and venue for the questioning and directed him to respond in writing within two days. He chose not to respond. Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur sought to describe it as part of the state government’s strategy to deal with any untoward political situation in the state.
Kalpana, 48, hails from a business family in Mayurbhanj district in Odisha. Ever since Soren’s name appeared in the office-of-profit scam last year, Kalpana has been accompanying him to different programmes inside and outside Jharkhand, seen as part of her grooming exercise. Kalpana is a business woman and runs a private school and several other businesses. She takes keen interest in women empowerment and events organised for children.
Speaker accepts it
Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto did not find it necessary to ask three-time MLA Sarfaraz Ahmed why he put in his papers before quickly accepting it on Sunday