A war of words erupted between Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and state BJP president Babulal Marandi after the central government denied owing the state Rs 1.36 lakh crore in coal royalty.

In response to a question by Purnia MP Pappu Yadav, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated that there was no discrimination in the allocation of funds to states and clarified that the Centre did not owe any dues to Jharkhand.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government has reportedly initiated legal proceedings to recover the Rs 1.36 lakh crore in coal royalties from the Centre, according to news agency PTI.

Babulal Marandi dismissed the claims made by the Jharkhand government as “baseless and misleading” and demanded that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) government present proper documentation to substantiate its claims before the public.

“If JMM has any concrete proof regarding this figure, then they should put it before the public with complete documents and facts. JMM should clarify which item this amount belongs to? Since when is it pending and under what circumstances is this claim being made?” Marandi said in a post on X in Hindi.

He also said that Hemant Soren should focus on the “real problems of Jharkhand” instead of blaming the central government.

“This game of misleading the people of Jharkhand by making baseless allegations without any proof should stop now. The false promises of giving Rs 2500 per month to women, Rs 3200 per quintal of paddy to farmers and jobs to youth have been exposed. Therefore, you can hide your failures by making baseless allegations against the central government,” he said in the post.

“Politics of misleading the public will not benefit Jharkhand. Learn to do politics of purity with complete facts and evidence,” the BJP leader added.

Responding to the BJP leader’s claim, Soren said that Jharkhand’s demands were “not baseless”.

“This is our right, the money earned through our hard work. Your opposition to the rights of Jharkhandis is indeed sad. When you had to use the full strength of your organisation to stand with us – you stood in opposition,” he tweeted.

The Chief Minister said that Jharkhand will “definitely” demand its rights, “because this money is the right of every Jharkhandi”.

Marandi responded to the Chief Minister and said that “the public has the right to know the truth about Jharkhand’s claim”.

He said that the Jharkhand government should answer questions about the claim.

“This outstanding amount is from which years and which schemes/projects? What is the basis of the amount of Rs 1.36 lakh crore? How much amount was recovered during the UPA regime and when Shibu Soren was the Coal Minister?” he said in a post on X.

“Given Jharkhand’s history of corruption, the public wants to know everything. Put the correct documents and facts in front with transparency and then speak,” he said.

The BJP leader added, “By raising the issue of pending dues, are you deliberately preparing the ground for blaming others for failure to pay the amount under the Mainiya Samman Yojana?”