Ranchi
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren won the vote of confidence in the State Assembly on Monday even as the Opposition grouping of BJP and AJSU legislators staged a walk out. Hemant is likely to expand his Cabinet and undertake a reshuffle even as alliance partner Congress is also expected to go in for some jugglery given the resentment last time round when Champai Soren became the Chief Minister and formed his Cabinet.
A total of 45 MLAs, including nominated member Josheph P Galastaun, voted in favour of the confidence motion. The Hemant Soren-led INDIA bloc government here has 45 MLAs — 27 from the JMM, 17 from the Congress and one from the RJD. The lone CPI (ML) Liberation legislator Vinod Singh extends outside support to the Government.
Two JMM MLAs namely Nalin Soren and Joba Majhi are now Lok Sabha MPs while Jama MLA Sita Soren resigned from the JMM to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. She, however, lost to Nalin Soren. The JMM expelled two more legislators – Bishunpur MLA Chamra Linda and Boriyo MLA Lobin Hembrom – from the party for anti-party activities.
The BJP’s strength in the assembly also stands reduced to 24 with two of its MLAs – Dhulu Mahto (Baghmara) and Manish Jaiswal (Hazaribag) — becoming MPs. Moreover, the BJP also expelled Mandu MLA Jaiprakash Bhai Patel after he joined the Congress to contest the Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat but lost to Jaiswal.
In all, 75 MLAs were present in the assembly during the voting. Independent legislator Saryu Roy abstained from voting. Hemant Soren was released from jail on June 28 after the Jharkhand High Court granted bail to him in a money laundering case linked to the land ‘scam’. He was sworn in for the third term on July 4, a day after his predecessor Champai Soren stepped down from the post.
Hemant had resigned as the Chief Minister shortly before his arrest on January 31 by the Enforcement Directorate.
While the INDIA Bloc plans to project Hemant both as a victim and a victor in the upcoming Assembly elections in the State, the BJP has already started targeting him citing dynastic politics and the Soren family’s “thirst for power”. The removal of Champai with just a couple-odd months remaining for the Assembly polls has not sent the right signals, especially among the voters and JMM cadres from the Kolhan region from where Champai belongs. Champai himself too was said to be reluctant in handing back the Chief Ministership just ahead of the polls.
