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Speculations are rife that Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren will take over the reins if he gets arrested by the ED in a money laundering case.
Ending suspense over his whereabouts and intense political drama, Hemant Soren reached his official residence in Ranchi on Tuesday and chaired the first meeting of his alliance MLAs.
At the meeting, the legislators signed a letter of support without any name amid suspense that Kalpana Soren will become the CM.
Kalpana Soren was also present at the meeting.
Since Kalpana is not an MLA, her becoming the CM will need a present MLA to vacate his or her seat.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said that Hemant's brother, Basant Soren and sister-in-law Sita Soren, did not agree to the proposal of Kalpana becoming the CM.
However, Basant Soren denied any family rift and said the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha family is united and rifts happen in Nishikant Dubey's family only.
Kalpana got married to Hemant Soren on February 7, 2006. Thy have two children -- Nikhil and Ansh.
On Monday, an ED team visited the JMM executive president's Delhi home with the intent to question him and agency officials claimed that he was "untraceable".
Sources close to Soren said that the 48-year-old JMM leader came by road from Delhi, undertaking a more than 1250 km journey.
Hemant Soren will appear before the ED to record his statement on Wednesday.
Soren, also the executive president of the ruling JMM, had left for the national capital on January 27 night and his scheduled government programme in the state was cancelled without any explanation.
In an email to the probe agency on Sunday, Soren alleged that the ED's actions were "motivated by political agenda" to disrupt the state government's functioning and claimed that its insistence to record his statement again on or before January 31 "reeked of malice".
The federal agency questioned Soren on January 20, and later issued a fresh summons, asking him to confirm his availability for questioning on either January 29 or January 31.
The Enforcement Directorate will question Soren on Wednesday in Ranchi in a money laundering case probe linked to an alleged land scam. The official sources have said that they have seized Rs 36 lakh, a BMW SUV and some "incriminating" documents during the search operations at his house in the national capital on Monday.
Meanwhile, JMM and the BJP leaders engaged in a verbal duel with the opposition party in the state claiming that Soren was "missing" for several hours after going to Delhi and the Congress and JMM alleging that the saffron camp was spreading rumours about Soren.
The JMM said it will file a case against state BJP chief Babulal Marandi for allegedly defaming the Chief Minister by his comment on the JMM leader's "absence" in the state capital Ranchi.