Congress indecision delays Hemant Soren’s cabinet expansion

Ranchi, December 2: Indecision by the Congress high command is being attributed as the reason for the delay in cabinet expansion of the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government despite five days of swearing in ceremony of the chief minister.

Though JMM sources said that the expansion of the Hemant Soren cabinet in Jharkhand is going to happen very soon.

After the swearing in of Hemant Soren as chief minister, 11 cabinet minister posts are vacant. According to the formula that has been decided, six ministers can be made from JMM, four from Congress and one  from RJD with CPI-ML deciding against seeking ministerial berths.

Sources in JMM said that JMM has almost finalized the names of the ministerial berths for the MLAs while RJD has put the name of Suresh Paswan in front.

However, there is no clarity on Congress quota as of now.

Congress has 16 MLAs and four MLAs will get a chance to become ministers.

Several newly elected MLAs of Congress are camping in Delhi lobbying with AICC senior officials for ministerial berths in Jharkhand from Congress quota. This time Congress wants to manage divisional politics along with social equations. This is the reason why claims are being seen from every division.

Some of the main contenders for ministerial post from Congress include, Nishat Alam, Irfan Ansari, Pradeep Yadav and Deepika Pandey Singh from Santhal Pargana.

The name of Sona Ram Sinku from Kolhan division is in discussion. Rameshwar Oraon, Shilpi Neha Tirkey, Rajesh Kachhap and Naman Vikas Kongadi are in the race from South Chota Nagpur Division.

Radha Krishna Kishore may get a chance from Palamu Division. Jai Mangal Singh and Mamta Devi are contenders from North Chota Nagpur.

According to Congress sources, party state president Keshav Mahato Kamlesh will discuss the ministerial post with top Congress leaders in Delhi on Monday.

According to the information, Congress in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir has also reached Delhi. The names of the ministers of Congress quota are likely to be finalized after discussion by this evening.

Hemant Soren is waiting for the names of MLAs from Congress and RJD. After receiving the names, the list of cabinet expansion will be sent to the Raj Bhavan. A target has been set to expand the cabinet before the assembly session starting from December 9.