AMN / RANCHI
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Champai Soren will take oath as the Chief Minister on Friday. Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan appointed him as the Chief Minister designate and invited him to take oath. However, the Governor asked him to prove majority in 10 days.
Champai Soren, on Thursday met Governor CP Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan and demanded the process of new government formation should begin at the earliest.
“We have demanded that the process to start the formation of the Government should begin. He (Governor) said that the process will begin soon…,” Soren told reporters after meeting the Governor.
He was accompanied by Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam, RJD MLA Satyanand Bhokta, CPI (ML) L legislator Vinod Singh and lawmaker Pradeep Yadav.
After Champai Soren met the governor, 39 coalition MLAs were preparing to fly to Hyderabad, including Hemant Soren’s brother and MLA Basant Soren. However, the flight could not take off due to poor weather and low visibility.
Champai Soren became the new leader of the JMM legislative party after Hemant Soren resigned on Wednesday night as the chief minister by the ED in a money laundering case and his subsequent arrest.
Jharkhand slipped into a political turmoil on Wednesday after Hemant Soren resigned form the post of chief minister and was subsequently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
Before his resignation, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance picked Champai Soren as new leader of the legislative party. As soon as Hemant Soren tendered his resignation, Champai Soren staked claim to form government in the state.
He also handed over letter of support from at least 43 MLAs to the Governor and sought time for the swearing-in ceremony.
However, the Governor reportedly told the Champai Soren-led delegation that he will examine the documents submitted by them.
The JMM delegation also reportedly showed a roll-call video of at least 43 MLAs to the Governor and said the delay in new government formation will encourage involvement of other parties.