Jharkhand crisis: MLAs may get shifted to West Bengal or Chhattisgarh

Amid the deepening political crisis in Jharkhand due to the uncertainty over Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s fate as an MLA, preparations have been made to shift ruling coalition MLAs to “friendly states” like West Bengal or Chhattisgarh, if the need arises, to prevent poaching attempts by the BJP, multiple sources confirmed.

The development comes in the wake of a crisis situation in Jharkhand where a threat to Soren being “disqualified” as an MLA has arisen, while a marathon third round of a meeting of legislators of the ruling alliance is underway in the chief minister’s residence to chalk out a strategy to deal with the emerging scenario.

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All the ruling MLAs are attending the meeting along with their luggage, they said.

Governor Ramesh Bais is likely to send the order of disqualification of Soren as an MLA to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, Raj Bhavan sources said.

“All arrangements to park our coalition legislators in either Chhattisgarh or West Bengal, both run by non-BJP governments, have been made. Three luxury buses have reached Ranchi to transport the MLAs and security personnel by road. There will also be some escort vehicles,” a source said.

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