Hemant Soren takes oath as 11th chief minister of Jharkhand

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren on Sunday (December 29) was sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand at Morhabadi Ground here.

Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Soren in the presence of senior political leaders and chief ministers of various states. This will be the 44-year-old JMM leader’s second stint as Jharkhand chief minister.

Along with Soren, Congress legislature party leader Alamgir Alam, state Congress president Rameshwar Oraon, and RJD MLA Satyanand Bhokta were also sworn in as state cabinet ministers at Sunday’s event.

Taking it to twitter, various political leaders, including Kerala Chief Minster Pinarayi Vijayan and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, congratulated Soren.

In the just-conducted Assembly elections, the JMM-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance triumphed over the BJP, winning 47 seats in the 81-member House. Four other MLAs – three from the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and one from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) have also extended their support to the three-party coalition.

Jharkhand can have 12 cabinet members, including the CM. The rest of the cabinet members are likely to be sworn once the power-sharing formula between the coalition partners is finalised and after the legislators are administered the oath in the assembly, likely to be convened before January 5, claim news reports.

The swearing-in ceremony witnessed a mega opposition gathering, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi; West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee; Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel; Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray; Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot; Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath; CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury; and CPI general secretary D. Raja.

This is the first time that Soren will be succeeding the BJP’s Raghubar Das. Hemant Soren was known for bringing progressive policies like 50 per cent reservation in government jobs for women and he played a major role tackling the Maoist insurgency in Saranda, West Singhbhum through a mix of development initiatives and security measures.

(With inputs from agencies)