On Probe Agency Summons, Mamata Banerjee's Advice To Hemant Soren

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has backed her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sent a notice to the Chief Minister.

"What is happening these days? Whichever state has an Opposition Government they are sending either ED or CBI. Just a few moments ago Hemant Soren called me up. He said Didi they have sent a notice to me again. I said, 'You take your tribal brothers and sisters with you. You also show them your strength'. They are doing this with everyone, every opposition party," Mamata Banerjee said.

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress has been belligerent when it comes to agencies under the control of the union government saying that these agencies have been misused to target opposition parties in Opposition-ruled states.

Hemant Soren has also written a strongly worded letter to probe agency, which investigates financial crimes, on the notice sent to him to appear before it a day before Independence Day.

"Your choice of the date of 14 August 2023 does not come as a surprise to the undersigned. You and your political masters are fully aware that being the Chief Minister of the State of Jharkhand, the undersigned is scheduled to hoist the National Flag on the occasion of the 77th Independence Day of the Republic of India on 15 August 2023. Preparations for the Independence day function starts from a week before and 14th August is an important day for the same when many meetings are pre-scheduled," Hemant Soren told the agency in a letter addressed to Assistant Director Deovrat Jha who is based in Ranchi.

"The captioned summons requiring the undersigned to appear before you on 14 August 2023 is deliberate and part of the design to besmirch the reputation not only of the undersigned but also, the democratically elected government of the state of Jharkhand and the people of the State of Jharkhand," Hemant Soren added.

"In fact, Central agencies have been targeting the undersigned for over a year now only because the undersigned is not aligned with the political party which is in power at the Centre," accusing the ED of working at the behest of the BJP which is in power at the centre," Mr Soren said.