Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren becomes the third victim of being booed in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a power-project inauguration ceremony in Ranchi on Thursday.

After Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Soren is the third non-BJP chief minister who faced embarrassment in his own turf.

When Soren started to address the crowd, the chants of “Modi, Modi” began and visibly upset Soren completed his speech in 10 minutes amidst the chaos.

Slamming the BJP workers for turning a government program into a political rally, Soren said Modi should intervene in this issue.

“What happened today was the rape of the federal structure of the country,” Soren said, adding, “But this appears to have become a trend at Modi’s programmes in non-BJP ruled states now.”

“This is unacceptable and the party will henceforth greet all central ministers with black flags and boycott their functions,” JMM leader Supriyo Bhattacharya said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan skipped a function at Nagpur On Thursday and refused to share dais with Modi.

Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday said, “The PM crossed the line by giving government functions a political flavour. This has been done repeatedly. So, I decided to skip the function in Nagpur.”

Maharstra BJP leader Vinod Tawde slammed Chavan by saying, “Chief Minister went to Vidarbha, where he was booed by farmers, they were not BJP workers. Congress must introspect.”

Congress hit out at BJP on this issue and said it was BJP’s tactics to show non-BJP chief ministers in a poor light.

“The BJP has publicly humiliated the chief ministers of Jharkhand and other poll-bound states — Haryana and Maharashtra — in a conspiracy to create a poor image of the chief ministers,” JPCC chief Sukhdeo Bhagat said.

“It should be noted that this is all happening in the states that are likely to go to polls soon,” he added.

Calling BJP a “party of hooligans and ruffians”, Congress leader Lal Kishore Nath Sahdeo said, “Before the Lok Sabha polls, Modi used to claim that he wants to strengthen the federal structure, but his party is now weakening it…His silence on the matter is enough to indicate that he is happy with the turn of events.”

Hitting back at Congress, the BJP said that Sonia Gandhi should introspect why they had lost the election. Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “how would the grand old party ignore the ‘Modi mantra of good governance.”

• About the Author

About Sprightly Spirit

“I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares more is none”. And all, may be. It may be the vigor. Or the spirit. Or the courage to avoid being “politically correct” or bent. And, ban all averse with immaculate overture of graciously fathomable words firm in views. Subtle. Justifying the undying conscience. Values. Knowledge. And, dares to stay true. True to own. True to the world. And, to the words. With a dream in eyes it exists. In you. In me. In all. The sprite that never shies away. The spirit that never dies!