Soren discharged from hospital, attends cabinet meeting

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Soren was admitted to Apollo hospital for blood pressure problem Tuesday morning and was discharged at night.

"Soren attended a cabinet meeting at his residence today (Wednesday). He is taking rest at home as suggested y the doctors. He is not meeting anyone and all engagements have been cancelled," the chief minister's press advisor Safiq Ansari told IANS.

Deputy Chief Ministers Sudesh Mahto and Raghubar Das represented Jharkhand at Chidambaram's meeting with the government of four Maoist-hit states -- Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

While Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and West Bengal's Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee attended, Soren and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar could not make it.

In political circles, however, Soren's decision to not attend the meeting with Chidambaram is being seen differently.

Top Maoist leader, Kishanji of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), had reportedly said in a statement to the local media that the door for dialogues would be closed forever if Soren attended the meeting.

"Soren's move not to attend the meeting in Kolkata after the Maoist warning will send the wrong message. This will embolden the morale of the Maoists. Soren could have attended the meeting if he wanted to," said Congress leader Alok Dubey.