Shibu Soren Finally Quits Ministry After PM’s Directive

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Not yet trace able minister sent in his papers through his personal secretary to the Prime Minister. Later the three JMM members of Parliament also met Manmohan Singh discuss the fate of coal ministry.

A copy of the resignation also was handed over to the prime minister at his residence by a JMM delegation in the afternoon.

The delegation comprised members of Parliament Tek Lal Mahato, Sudhan Marandi and Hemant Soren. They were accompanied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Soren is an accused in the Chirrudih massacre of 1975, in which 10 people were killed.

Late on Saturday evening the Prime Minister had sent a letter to Soren's personal staff in New Delhi seeking the minister's resignation.

Earlier in the day, JMM sources in Ranchi, had indicated that Soren may wait till Monday, when his bail application will be heard in the high court, before deciding whether to step down.

The JMM sources had indicated that party chief will wait for the Jharkhand high court's verdict on his bail plea before taking a decision on whether to resign from the Union council of ministers.

Soren, against whom a non-bailable warrant has been issued in a 30-year-old case of murder, has been in hiding for the last four days.

Late Saturday evening, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh asked Soren to put in his papers.''The prime minister should have waited till the high court's decision before asking for Soren's resignation. We will wait till the court's order,'' senior party leader Hussain Ansari said.

Asked about Soren's whereabouts, Ansari said he is ''among his own people."

He said a party delegation is expected to call on the Prime Minister in New Delhi later in the day.

BJP Elated: Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday welcomed the Prime Minister’s directive to Shibu Soren to resign from the Union council of ministers, but said it was a "belated" decision.

"It is very good that the prime minister has taken this decision. But if this wisdom had dawned on him four days back, it could have helped avoid ugly scenes witnessed in Parliament," senior party leader Sushma Swaraj said.

"This is happening for the first time in our Parliamentary history [a minister on the run]," Swaraj said.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra alleged that the prime minister delayed the decision to allow Soren time to secure a bail from the high court.

Malhotra said National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders would meet President A P J Abdul Kalam on Monday and demand dismissal of other charge-sheeted ministers, including Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, too.

The Manmohan Singh government had been under pressure to drop Soren for the last four days and the Opposition had been stalling Parliamentary function over the issue.

The Jharkhand government has revived the case against Soren, who has not been seen in public since July 20.

To add to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s embarrassment, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM ) general secretary Muktinath Upadhyay drew further attention to the episode by resigning from the primary membership taking exception to Soren's conduct.

On the other hand, Soren’s supporters in Ranchi, including his legislator son Durga Soren, had come out on the streets warning that the JMM chief's resignation would not be tolerated.

This, incidentally, is not the only case against Soren. Another relates to the murder of his personal secretary in 1994, which the BJP is gearing up to raise.

Earlier on Friday, The Jharkhand High Court deferred till Monday hearing on a petition by absconding minister challenging the non-bailable arrest warrants against him in a 30-year-old massacre case.

The High Court told Soren's counsel that the criminal writ petition would be listed on Monday.

"Before I could mention before the Honourable Chief Justice P K Subramanium Aiyer, he said it would be listed on Monday," Soren's lawyer R S Majumder told reporters here in Ranchi.

Earlier on Thursday, a Jharkhand High Court judge refused to hear the matter as he had recorded the Dying Declaration on the basis of which the JMM chief was charged in the 1975 Chirrudih massacre case in which 10 people were killed.

The direction had come after Justice Laxman Oraon, who was to take up the case yesterday, had declined to do so as he had recorded the dying declaration of Lakhendra Soren, a co-accused in the January 23, 1975 massacre, when he was posted as the judicial magistrate, Jamtara.

Jamtara Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate A K Mishra had issued the arrest warrant on July 17 against Soren in connection with the massacre.

Soren challenged the arrest warrant and property attachment order against him and sought a direction from the court to the state government to withdraw the case, registered under various IPC sections.

The minister prayed to the court to quash the proceedings against him following the Jharkhand government's assurance in the first assembly session after the state's creation to withdraw all cases relating to the Jharkhand movement.

Warrants have also been issued against nine others in the case.