Ranchi, Nov 2 (IANS) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren Monday said that supporting Madhu Koda as chief minister was a blunder and in future his party would not support any Independent member for the position.
“Supporting Madhu Koda government was a blunder. In future, we will not support any Independent candidate. Independents should not fight the elections,” Shibu Soren told reporters in Bokaro Monday.

“Independents have plundered the state,” he added.

Shibu Soren was reacting to the ongoing raids by the Income Tax (IT) department and Enforcement Department (ED) against Koda, who is a former chief minister and a Lok Sabha member.

IT department and ED Saturday started raids at 70 places in eight Indian states against Koda and his associates.

They discovered illegal transactions amounting to Rs.1,600 crore and Rs.550 crore sent to foreign countries through hawala transactions. The raids are on for the third day running Monday.

Koda was chief minister of the state from September 2006 to August 2008 with the support of the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the JMM.

Asked about an alliance with the Congress in the assembly poll beginning Nov 25, Soren said: “There is no question of an alliance with the Congress.”

The JMM will fight all the 81 seats in the assembly poll on its own, Soren said.