Hemant govt wins trust vote amid Oppn walkout in J’khand Assembly

Ranchi: In a significant political development, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren and 10 other leaders from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led coalition were sworn in as ministers in the Hemant Soren government. This event followed the coalition’s success in winning a trust vote in the Assembly on Monday, despite an Opposition walkout.

The confidence motion saw 45 MLAs, including nominated member Glen Joseph Galstaun, voting in favour. Opposition members from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) walked out of the House as the voting commenced. The BJP-led Opposition holds 24 seats, with an additional three from AJSU.

Celebrating the trust vote victory, Chief Minister Hemant Soren remarked: “Today, everyone again got to witness the unity and strength of the ruling alliance. I thank the Speaker and all the alliance MLAs.” He highlighted the coalition’s commitment to constitutional procedures since coming to power in 2019.

During his address, Soren criticised the BJP, stating: “One could see the conduct of BJP legislators after seeing me again in the House. The BJP doesn’t have any agenda for the state. The people of the country held a mirror to the BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. In the upcoming Assembly elections, they will face strong resistance from the JMM-led alliance.”

Leader of Opposition Amar Bauri accused the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance of failing to fulfil promises over the past five years. The session witnessed BJP legislators demanding the Speaker allow MLA Bhanu Pratap Sahi to speak, which was denied.

Seventy-five MLAs were present for the vote, with Independent legislator Saryu Roy abstaining. Following the trust vote, Governor C P Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to the new ministers at a Raj Bhavan ceremony attended by Hemant Soren and senior JMM alliance politicians.

Champai Soren had resigned as CM on July 3, preceding Hemant Soren’s oath as the 13th chief minister on July 4.

The 12-member Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, features new faces like Congress’s Jamtara MLA Irfan Ansari, Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey Singh, and JMM’s Latehar MLA Baidynath Ram. Several ministers from the previous Cabinet retained their positions, including Congress’s Rameshwar Oraon and Banna Gupta, along with JMM’s Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Hafizul Hasan, Dipak Birua, Bebi Devi, and RJD’s Satyanand Bhokta.

Notably, JMM chief Shibu Soren’s youngest son Basant Soren and Congress’s Badal Patralekh were excluded from the new Cabinet.

Later in the evening, Hemant Soren allotted portfolios to the ministers in his new Cabinet, keeping key departments such as Home, Personnel and Cabinet Secretariat for himself.

Former CM Champai Soren was allotted the Water Resources Department, besides Higher Education and Technical Education portfolios.

JMM’s Badiyanath Ram was assigned School Education and Excise.

Congress’ Deepika Pandey Singh, one of the new faces in the 12-member Cabinet, was given the portfolios of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Disaster Management.

First-time minister Irfan Ansari, also of the Congress, was allotted Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Rural Works departments.

JMM’s Dipak Birua, who belongs to the Ho tribe, was assigned the SC, ST, OBC Welfare, and Transport departments.

JMM’s Bebi Devi, who won last year’s Dumri bypoll after the death of her husband and former minister Jagannath Mahto, was given the Women & Child Development, and Social Welfare portfolios.

Rameshwar Oraon of the Congress was assigned the Finance, Planning, Commercial Taxes and Parliamentary Affairs departments.

Satyanand Bhokta of the RJD got the charge of the Labour and Industries departments, while Banna Gupta of the Congress was given Health and Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs departments.

JMM MLA Hafizul Hasan got Minorities’ Welfare, Registration, Urban Development, Tourism, and Sports and Youth Affairs portfolios. His party colleague Mithilesh Kumar Thakur was given the Drinking Water and Sanitation departments.

Apart from keeping Home, Personnel and Cabinet Secretariat departments for himself, the CM retained the portfolios that were not allocated to anybody.

The ruling coalition, comprising JMM, Congress, and RJD, is supported by the lone CPI (ML) Liberation legislator. Following the Lok Sabha elections, the alliance’s strength in the 81-member House stands at 45, with the BJP’s numbers reduced due to some members becoming MPs and others being expelled.

With the Assembly elections approaching, the current strength of the Jharkhand Assembly is 76. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance presented a support list of 44 MLAs to the Governor when Hemant Soren staked his claim to form the government on July 3.