The newly formed Jharkhand government led by Chief Minister Champai Soren will face floor test on February 5 amid political uncertainty and fears of poaching of MLAs. Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir said the MLAs of the ruling alliance will stay at a “protected place” in Telangana till the floor test takes place.
“It’s unthinkable and unprecedented for a sitting chief minister to step down and hand the reins to a party colleague. The entire coalition unanimously picked Hemant Soren’s successor and formally proposed his name as the next chief minister to the governor. We are thankful to the Governor for allowing the oath-taking ceremony to take place yesterday. The alliance will be invited for a floor test in the Assembly on February 5. Till then, all our MLAs will remain in a protected place,” the Congress leader said.
The move is seen as an attempt by the ruling alliance to keep its legislators together and avoid alleged poaching attempt by the BJP, which is in the Opposition in Jharkhand.
The state slipped into a political turmoil after former CM Hemant Soren’s arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in an alleged land scam case.
Following Hemant Soren’s resignation, Champai Soren, a senior leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party and state transport minister, took oath as the new chief minister at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi on Friday.
Congress leader Alamgir Alam and RJD’s Satyanand Bhokta also took the oath as ministers in the new Jharkhand cabinet.
Alongside Soren, Congress’ Alamgir Alam and RJD’s Satyanand Bhokta also took the oath as ministers in the Jharkhand cabinet.
How numbers stack up in Jharkhand ahead of floor test?
In the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has 29, its ally the Congress has 17 seats while the RJD and the CPI (ML) have 1 seat each. With the support of 43 MLAs, the INDIA bloc has the numbers to sail through a floor test.
On the opposition bench, the Bharatiya Janata Party has 26 seats, AJSU 3 while Independents and others have 3 MLAs. One seat in the assembly is vacant.