Hemant Soren meets Sunita Kejriwal, Sonia Gandhi in Delhi

Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren paid courtesy visits to the wife of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sunita Kejriwal, and Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, in the Capital on Saturday — days after Soren was released from jail and resumed office as the chief minister.

Soren was accompanied by his wife and Jharkhand’s Gandey constituency MLA Kalpana Soren. Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh, who was present during the couple’s meeting with Sunita Kejriwal at Kejriwal’s residence, said Soren has extended “full support to the Delhi CM and his family”. Soren said he hoped that Kejriwal would be granted bail soon in the excise policy case.

“Today in Delhi, I met Honourable Chief Minister Bhai Arvind Kejriwal ji’s wife Mrs. Sunita Kejriwal ji and AAP MP Bhai Sanjay Singh ji. Arvind ji, his family and party are fighting this battle against the conspiracy with great strength. Our support and best wishes are with all of you. The victory of truth is eternal!” Soren said in a post on X.

“The talks were cordial and the issue of ‘misuse’ of central probe agencies against opposition leaders was discussed. He (Hemant Soren) and Kejriwal both were victims of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s politics of ill will, revenge and efforts to stop opposition leaders from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls,” said Singh.

Soren was visiting Delhi for the first time since his release from jail and taking charge as the Jharkhand CM. Referring to the INDIA bloc’s vote share in the recently concluded general elections, Soren said: “Indians are very sensitive and tolerant. They tolerate a lot until they cannot and then they make themselves heard by voting”.

“Discussions for Jharkhand assembly elections will continue… there was no discussion about polls,” Soren said when asked whether the upcoming assembly polls in Jharkhand were discussed with Gandhi.

Soren resigned as the chief minister before his arrest on January 31 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He was granted bail by the Jharkhand high court after around five months and took over as the chief minister again on July 4.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

The JMM and the Congress are alliance partners in the Soren-led government. Assembly elections in the state are scheduled to take place later this year.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that people of Delhi are not surprised to see the bonding between the Soren and Kejriwal families as both are facing economic offence charges.

“Both Soren and Kejriwal consider public resources a source for their political and economic development… From Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Yadav to Sharad Pawar to Hemant Soren… these are people against whom the Ramlila Maidan fast was held by India Against Corruption… today those who supported Kejriwal in the IAC days must be wondering what a chameleon he is,” said Kapoor.