Ahead of the oath ceremony, Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren had visited Delhi.
New Delhi:
Hemant Soren will take oath as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand today after leading the INDIA alliance to a decisive victory in the recently concluded assembly elections.
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Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar is expected to administer the oath of office and secrecy to Hemant Soren today. This will be the fourth time the 49-year-old will be taking oath.
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Mr Soren, however, could be the only minister of the state to take oath today. According to information received so far, Mr Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM has not received any list of ministers from ally Congress.
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Sources indicated that the cabinet will be expanded next week, after the new government takes the vote of confidence.
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The JMM is expected to keep six ministerial berths in addition to the Chief Minister’s post. The Congress will get four berths and Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal will get one.
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The CPI-ML, which has two MLAs, will support the government from outside.
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Today’s oath ceremony will be held at the at Morhabadi ground in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi. It is expected to be attended by top leaders of the INDIA bloc.
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu are likely to attend the event.
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The INDIA bloc won a second consecutive term in Jharkhand with a decisive victory last week. The JMM won 34 of the state’s 81 seats while the Congress won 16, RJD four and CPI(ML) two seats.
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“I’m grateful to the people of Jharkhand for their continued trust in our leadership,” Mr Soren said in his victory speech. “This victory reflects the aspirations of the people, and we will work towards fulfilling them. This is a victory of the people and their vision for a peaceful and progressive Jharkhand,” he added.
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Ahead of the oath ceremony, Mr Soren and his wife Kalpana Murmu Soren had visited Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss a collaborative roadmap for the state. While in Delhi, they also invited various INDIA bloc leaders for the oath ceremony.
