Soren Booed after Hooda; Congress CMs to Boycott Modi

Even as Congress Chief Ministers were deciding on a tough stand to boycott any event with Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the booing of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren faced a similar humiliation in Ranchi on Thursday.

Soren, who was addressing the crowd in an event at the Prabhat Tara Ground during Modi's maiden visit to Ranchi, was jeered at by BJP supporters in the crowd who booed him by chanting Modi's name even as he spoke, Hindustan Times reported.

The incident comes just a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan refused to attend an event in Nagpur where Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation for a Metro line in the city on Thursday.

"I have decided not to attend the Prime Minister's function because of the incidents that took place in recent days. As per protocol, a representative of the state government will be present at the function,"Chavan said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, HT reported. Chavan was jeered at twice when he shared the stage with Modi.

Soren, in fact, had made it clear to the Prime Minister's Office that he would not digest any embarrassment when he shared the stage with Modi on Thursday, who inaugurated a power plant in the state. According to news reports, Modi urged the crowd to let the CM speak.

Earlier, Hooda had condemned the jeering and declared that he would never share the stage with Modi again.

"It was meant to be an official function but turned into a political rally. The BJP has violated the pride of the institution of PM. I went to keep the pride of the chair. In future, I will never attend a function with the PM," NDTV quoted Hooda. 

This repeated episode of jeering by BJP supporters has pushed Congress Chief Ministers to avoid sharing the stage with Modi at any event.

The Congress has now accused BJP of a conspiracy to embarrass its party leaders. "It is a conspiracy by the BJP to humiliate our leaders. No self-respecting Chief Minister will attend functions if BJP supporters boo Chief Ministers in the presence of PM Modi," Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza told NDTV.

This decision, however, has elicited sharp responses from the BJP.

"Congress Chief Ministers can run away from the stage that they are sharing with Modi but they would not be able to to run away from his development," BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told IBNLive.