Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Credit: PTI Photo
Ranchi: Hitting out at the BJP's 'Batenge Toh Katenge' slogan, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday claimed that the saffron party will get a "thrashing" in the state assembly elections.
Soren addressing media people at his residential office here also slammed the income tax searches during the election campaign.
Replying to a query about BJP's 'Batenge Toh Katenge' slogan, Soren said, "Yahan na to bante hai, na batenge but chunav ke madhyam se kute jarur jayenge yeh log (Here no one is divided nor they will be but they (BJP) will be thrashed in the election."
Over the IT searches, the CM said, "I came to know that searches are underway on some of my associates. I don't think I need to talk more about this. Everyone knows what the condition of constitutional institutions are." The CM said that the entire country is watching on what parameters raids are being conducted.
"I don't think anyone saw such an action in the middle of the election before 2014," he said.
The Income Tax Department on Saturday conducted searches at multiple locations in poll-bound Jharkhand, including on the premises of a person linked to CM Hemant Soren, as part of a tax evasion probe, official sources said.
A total of nine premises in the state capital Ranchi and Jamshedpur were raided in an operation that started early morning. A security team of the CRPF is assisting the IT teams, the sources said.
The locations linked to Sunil Shrivastava, an aide to the CM, are also being searched, they said.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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