Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi V. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Jharkhand State BJP president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi on Tuesday (February 4, 2025) took a dig at the State government asking Chief Minister Hemant Soren to give the break-up of ₹ 1.36 lakh crore he was asking from the Centre.

Speaking to the media in Bokaro, Mr. Marandi asserted that if the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led (JMM) alliance partner gave the break-up then the BJP would also help.

Mr. Marandi alleged that the JMM was only doing politics on ₹1.36 lakh crore and that the party should tell the public in detail about it, how much was due, in which head, and from when.

“Even when a common man asks for dues from someone and that person also asks for details from him. Nothing is achieved by just saying that there are dues from the Centre,” Mr. Marandi said.

Last year during the Assembly election, Mr. Soren had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Central government to release dues to the tunes of ₹1.36 lakh crore pending as on March 2022 payable to the State exchequer from the coal companies operating in Jharkhand.

On Sunday (February 2, 2025) during the foundation day of the JMM, the party passed a 50-point resolution including to continue the agitation against the Centre until the said amount was released.

Mr. Marandi said, “When the government presents the budget, it tells how much amount has been allocated in which head. How much debt is there in the government? From where will the government get money for the expenses? How much Central grant will be received. All these things have to be told to the public. The same should be done for ₹1.36 lakh crore. The State government should tell in detail about the break-up.”

‘Give advertisements’

He added, “The State government keeps giving advertisements every day for the promotion of its schemes. In the similar way, it should also give advertisements and tell the public in detail about the outstanding amount of ₹1.36 lakh crore.”

Lashing out at the Soren government, Mr. Marandi alleged that corruption was the biggest issue of the State.

“Common man is being affected by corruption in the State. Even for getting the right work done, money has to be paid. Even for one’s ancestral land, money has to be paid to the officials. Bribe rates have been fixed per acre in the block. The State government is also playing with the future of children,” Mr. Marandi said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Soren said Jharkhand would take control of closed coal mines in the State to promote regional development. Addressing the 53rd Foundation Day of the JMM in Dhanbad, Mr. Soren criticised the Central government for handing over closed coal mines to private companies. He asserted that Jharkhand would not allow this at any cost.