Champai Soren To Take Oath As Jharkhand CM Today, JMM-led Coalition MLAs' Hyderabad Plan Cancelled

Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan on Thursday invited Champai Soren to form the government in the state, a day after the resignation of Hemant Soren.

Champai Soren will take oath as Jharkhand CM on February 2 and the floor test will take place in the next 10 days, said Alamgir Alam, Leader of Congress Legislative Party(CLP) in Jharkhand Assembly.

Meanwhile, the plan of JMM-led coalition MLAs to fly to Hyderabad from Ranchi amid a political crisis in Jharkhand was cancelled as the chartered planes hired for it could not take off due to poor visibility, sources said.

Leaders of the coalition said that shifting the legislators to Hyderabad was needed to prevent any poaching attempt by the BJP. Hyderabad is the capital of Telangana which is governed by the Congress, a constituent of the coalition. The MLAs who waited for around two hours at the airport are returning to the Circuit House, where they had been staying.

Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said, “We are going to the airport. You know what kind of people they are, they can do anything anytime. A total of 43 MLAs are going…”

At least 38 MLAs are set to move to the Congress-ruled state. Arrangments have been made in Begumpet for their stay.

The legislative party members chose Soren’s aide, Champai Soren for the chief minister’s post, who staked his claim to form the government before Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan on Wednesday.

The Jharkhand Governor, however, is yet to invite the JMM-led alliance to form the government. Champai Soren claimed the support of 47 MLAs of the JMM-led alliance, which also includes the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Champai Soren on Thursday said, “We have demanded from the Governor that the process to start the formation of the new Government should begin. The Governor has also assured us that the process will begin soon. Currently we have submitted the report with 43 MLAs in our support. We expect that the number will reach 46-47 so there is no problem. Our ‘gathbandhan’ is very strong…”

According to a Hindustan Times report, a JMM leader said a chartered flight was being arranged to shift the legislators to Hyderabad in Congress-ruled Telangana.

“The southern city has been chosen because it is in a Congress-ruled state besides being closer to Ranchi than other possible destinations such as Bengaluru. It would take a shorter time to bring them back whenever required,” the leader was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying on the condition of anonymity.

On the other hand, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi rained down on Radhakrishnan accusing him of delaying the appointment of the new chief minister despite the JMM-led alliance having a clear majority. He also pointed out no delay was made in the swearing-in of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after returning to the BJP-led alliance in Bihar.