Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party leader Champai Soren was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on Friday, two days after Hemant Soren stepped down and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan wherein senior Congress leader Alamgir Alam and RJD leader Satyanand Bhokta took oath as state ministers.
The 67-year-old tribal leader was administered the oath of office by Governor C P Radhakrishnan. He took oath as the 12th chief minister of the state making him the sixth CM from Jharkhand’s Kolhan region which comprises East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.
With all the chaos and the political crisis in the state, around Hemant Soren, him going ‘untraceable’, resigning and leaving the state without any Chief Minister, the JMM announced senior party leader and the state’s transport minister, Champai Soren, as leader of the JMM’s legislative party and said that he is set to replace Hemant Soren as chief minister.
This took place after the former CM tendered his resignation to the Jharkhand governor on Wednesday night.
“We will try to take forward the good work done by Hemant Soren so that both rural and urban areas develop. We will ensure that every section of the society, small farmers, poor get the benefits,” the newly appointed CM told the reporters.
As per the reports, Champai Soren was appointed to the chief minister’s post on Thursday after he urged the governor to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest as there was “confusion” in the state.
“We stand united. Our alliance is very strong. No one can break it,” Champai Soren had said, as he has been given 10 days to prove his government’s majority, as per state Congress chief Rajesh Thakur.
The ruling alliance led by the JMM has a majority of 49 legislators in the 81-member assembly — 29 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress, 1 from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), 1 from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI(ML)L) and 1 from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Meanwhile, Former Jharkhand CM, Hemant Soren was remanded to 5 days ED custody. This comes after the Supreme Court refused to entertain a writ petition filed by Hemant Soren challenging his arrest, and asked him to approach the Jharkhand High Court.
