Hemant Soren back as Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Hemant Soren. Pic/PTI

Ranchi: JMM leader Hemant Soren took oath as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand on Sunday at a grand ceremony attended by a galaxy of Opposition leaders and regional satraps, in a show of unity that could be a harbinger of a broad-based anti-BJP alliance amid the uproar over the new citizenship law.

Attired in white kurta-pyjama ensemble and a Nehru jacket, the 44-year-old tribal leader was sworn in as the 11th chief minister of the state by Governor Droupadi Murmu.

Didi in attendance
Among those in attendance were Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, TMC boss and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh counterparts Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, DMK leader M K Stalin, his sister Kanimozhi, and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav. They smiled broadly and shook hands at the bonhomie-filled event that heralded the advent of a JMM-Congress-RJD government.

Rahul Gandhi

Former assembly speaker and Congress leader Alamgir Alam, Jharkhand PCC president Rameshwar Oraon and RJD MLA Satyanand Bhokta were the other three ministers who took oath after Soren. This will be the 44-year-old JMM leader's second stint as Jharkhand chief minister. Soren had been a deputy chief minister and chief minister between 2009 and 2013.

Assembly session in Jan
The first cabinet of the Soren government has decided to convene a three-day session of the assembly from January 6. Senior JMM MLA Stephen Marandi, who was named as pro-tem speaker, will conduct the first House till a regular Speaker is elected.

Governor Murmu will deliver the inaugural address at 11.30 am, an official release said. The cabinet also decided to clear arrears of para-teachers, contractual employees, anganwadi workers and student scholarships. Directions have been issued to fill-up vacancies in government departments, the release said, adding, fast track courts would to be set up in every district to speed up trials of cases relating to sexual offences.

Who will be speaker?
Asked who would be the Speaker of the assembly, a Congress leader said: "Besides Marandi, Congress leader Rajendra Prasad Singh appears to be in the race for the post." The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-RJD alliance triumphed over the BJP, winning 47 seats in the 81-member House.

'His govt will work for peace'
Rahul Gandhi on Sunday expressed confidence that the new coalition government in Jharkhand would work for all and usher in an era of peace and prosperity. "I attended the swearing in ceremony of CM Hemant Soren Ji and ministers from the Congress party in Ranchi today. I'm confident that the new government in Jharkhand will work for the benefit of all citizens and usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the state," he said on Twitter on Sunday.

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