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

Ranchi, Aug 30 (PTI) 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.