Hemant Soren to take oath as Jharkhand chief minister at 5pm
Champai Soren, who took over as the chief minister of the JMM, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition government on February 2, resigned on Wednesday
RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president Hemant Soren, who was invited by governor C Radhakrishnan to form the government, will take oath as Jharkhand chief minister at 5pm at Raj Bhavan, a senior party leader said on Thursday.
Hemant Soren will take oath today and expand his council of ministers on a later date, a party leader said after Soren called on the governor. Soren was accompanied by leaders of the ruling alliance that him as its leader at its meeting on Wednesday.
Soren stepped down as chief minister on January 31 minutes ahead of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges in connection with an alleged land racket in the state capital. Champai Soren, a trusted Soren aide and sitting minister at the time, was elected as the ruling coalition’s leader on the same day. As he languished in jail, his party won three Lok Sabha seats this year, two more than its tally in 2019, and its partner, the Congress, won two. The BJP-led NDA won nine of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, three less than 2019. All the five seats won by the JMM-Congress combine in the state this time are reserved for scheduled tribes.
Soren walked out of the Birsa Munda Jail on June 28 after the Jharkhand high court granted him bail five months after his arrest, observing that there was reason to believe that Hemant Soren was not guilty of the offence as alleged by ED.
Champai resigned on Wednesday, saying this was a decision of the alliance. “Earlier, the alliance had given me the responsibility in special political circumstances. Everyone knows what happened to Hemant babu. Now he is back. The alliance today decided unanimously to choose him as our leader. I am giving back the responsibility that was given to me,” Champai said.