Sorens ignored at National Games: JMM

RANCHI - The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), a key ally of the ruling BJP, is unhappy that party chief Shibu Soren and his son Hemant Soren were given the cold shoulder at the opening ceremony of the National Games here.

Both Soren senior and Hemant Soren, who is deputy chief minister, shared dais with Governor M.O.H. Farook and Chief Minister Arjun Munda at the opening ceremony of the 34th National Games Feb 12. But neither of them were invited to speak on the occasion while Sudesh Mahto, the second deputy chief minister, was asked to speak.

“It is sad that neither the steering committee chairman nor the deputy chief minister were allowed to speak at the opening ceremony,” senior JMM leader Haji Hussain Ansari, who is state cooperative affairs minister, told reporters.

National Games Organising Committee (NGOC) chairman and central Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay was also not invited to speak on the occasion.

Sahay told reporters: “The state government wants to take credit for the National Games. It has forgotten that every one made efforts for the Games.”