Ranchi, February 5: Chief Minister Champai Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) governmentin Jharkhand won the trust vote on Monday 47-29 in the 81-member Assembly.The government was formed last week after former chief minister Hemant Soren resigned and was thensubsequently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case.
The jailed leader was allowed by a court to participate in the vote of confidence,the result of which reinstated the ruling JMM-led alliance back in power.
The other members in the coalition are the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD).
Soon after Soren’s resignation lastweek, JMM legislature party leader Champai Soren urged Governor C.P.Radhakrishnan to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest,citing “confusion” in the state as it was without a chief minister.
He was sworn in on 2 February.
The67-year-old tribal leader became the 12th chief minister of the state, and thesixth from Jharkhand’s Kolhan region which comprises East Singhbhum, WestSinghbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts..
Senior Congress leader Alamgir Alamand RJD leader Satyanand Bhokta also took oath as state ministers.
The Governorthen allowed Soren 10 days to prove his majority in the House.
Incidentally, 38 legislators had been flown to Hyderabad in Congress-ruled Telangana last Friday amid fears that the opposition BJP would poach them.
The MLAs came back Sunday evening.In the discussion preceding the trustvote on Monday, Champai Soren said the BJP had tried to destabilise the“democratically-elected” Jharkhand government and used central agencies to frame Hemant Soren.
Seventy-sevenMLAs were present in the assembly during the voting. WhileIndependent Saryu Roy and Amit Yadav abstained from the voting,
BJP Sindri MLAInderjeet Mahato and JMM Ghatshila MLA Ramdas Soren are undergoing treatment at Hyderabad and Delhi respectively.
The ruling alliance comprises theJMM, Congress and the RJD while it is supported from outside by the lone CPIML(L) legislator.
The BJP-led opposition has 26 legislatorsof the saffron party and three of the AJSU Party.
Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren onMonday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, accusing it of using centralagencies to ‘frame’ his predecessor Hemant Soren in false cases.
“Today the whole country is seeing how injustice is being done to Hemant Soren. If you go to any village, you will find Hemant Soren’s schemes in every house,” Soren said. “I proudly say that I am part-2 of HemantSoren…,” the 67-year-old leader, sworn-in as chief minister last week, said.
“BJP tried to destabilise ademocratically elected Jharkhand government,” the chief minister said in the assembly.
