Champai Soren was under surveillance for 6 months, will give befitting reply in 2 months: Himanta

RANCHI — Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday alleged that former Jharkhand CM Champai Soren was kept under surveillance by his own government for six months and a befitting reply awaits the “corrupt” JMM-led alliance in two months.

Sarma, also the BJP co-in charge for assembly elections in Jharkhand, made the accusation at a programme in which Soren joined the saffron party.

The ex-chief minister quit the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on August 28.

“Champai Soren was put under surveillance by Jharkhand police for six months. I have never heard of such an instance by any CM. I warn you (Chief Minister Hemant Soren), we will give a befitting reply after two months,” Sarma said.

He said that the incident warranted a thorough probe and demanded action against police officials involved in the alleged snooping.

Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly are scheduled later this year. Sarma earlier claimed that the polls will be announced in September.

The “corrupt Hemant Soren government” did not spare such a tall leader like Champai Soren who was a close aide of JMM supremo Shibu Soren, Sarma said.

The Assam chief minister had earlier this week claimed that two sub-inspectors followed Soren on his Delhi trips, took the same flight and stayed in the same five-star hotel as the then JMM minister.

Hitting out at the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition, he had said, “They claim to be the protectors of the Constitution. And here they are, intruding on the basic right of privacy and the life of a colleague of their own. Is Soren a Naxal, an extremist?”

The Assam CM had also expressed apprehensions that Soren’s phones could be tapped and there might have been a plan to ‘honey trap’ him.