Hemant Soren is set to sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand at 2pm today in Ranchi’s Morabadi Ground. Along with Soren two other ministers are likely to take oath. The state Congress Chief Rameshwar Oraon and former deputy CM Stephen Marandi of the JMM is among the probables to take oath.
The swearing in ceremony might as well be a show of strength for the opposition as a host of opposition leaders have been invited to attend the ceremony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister Raghubar Das have also been invited.
The list of invitees include Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackrey, NCP Chief Sharab Pawar, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav among others.
As per the media reports PM Modi has expressed his inability to attend the swearing ceremony because of his busy schedule. NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackrey won’t be attending the oath taking ceremony. Instead of Arvind Kejriwal AAP MP Sanjay Singh will be attending the swearing in ceremony.
Opposition Unity
Last time the opposition leaders were seen sharing stage was during HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing in ceremony in Karnataka. That ceremony had witnessed Congress interim Chief Sonia Gandhi sharing stage with BSP Supremo Mayawati. JDS-Congress government was toppled down by the BJP and BS Yediyurappa of the BJP became the Chief Minister.
JMM-Congress-RJD alliance
The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has bagged 47 seats in 81 member assembly, with JMM emerging as the single largest party with 30 seats. Hemant Soren won from both the seats he contested. The incumbent Chief Minister lost to Sarayu Roy, a BJP rebel from Jamshedpur East assembly seat and the BJP was reduced to just 25 seats. Congress improved its tally from 6 seats in 2014 to 16 this time.