Jharkhand floor test: Former Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday arrived at Ranchi Assembly ahead of the floor test of Champai Soren-led government to prove their majority.
Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement in an alleged land scam last week. He has sought permission to attend the floor test, which was granted to him.
The newly formed Champai Soren-led coalition government has been asked to prove majority in the assembly.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has 29 seats, its ally Congress has 17 and the RJD and the CPI (ML) have one seat in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. With the support of 43 MLAs, the INDIA bloc has the numbers to sail through the floor test but cross-voting fear remains.
Earlier on Sunday night, the MLAs of Jharkhand’s ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance, who have camping at a Telangana resort since Thursday, have returned to Ranchi ahead of today’s crucial floor test of the Champai Soren government.
The MLAs were shifted to the Congress-ruled state amid fears of poaching by the principal Opposition BJP after former Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s resignation and subsequent arrest.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Pranav Jha has alleged that BJP was still trying to break the party in Jharkhand.
“CM has been allowed to vote. We have sufficient numbers, quite in fact, more than the majority. We came because the BJP was still trying to break us…The threat of ED, CBI, and IT was there. They’re trying to break every opposition state,” Pranav Jha told reporters in Hyderabad.
The floor test of the new government of Jharkhand will be held in the Assembly today.
The Jharkhand Legislative Assembly will convene for a special two-day session beginning today.