Jharkhand portfolio allocation: Hemant Soren keeps Home; Congress gets Finance

Jharkhand Chief Minister CM Hemant Soren on Friday allocated portfolios to the newly appointed ministers in his government consolidating power within the coalition following its strong electoral performance Soren retained key departments such as Home and Personnel while major portfolios like Finance Health and Panchayati Raj were allocated to Congress legislators news agency PTI reportedThe lone Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD minister was given Industries and LabourThe new cabinet comprises 12 ministers seven from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM mdash including the CM mdash four from Congress and one from RJD JMM which won 34 of the 43 seats it contested secured seven cabinet positions including the CMs post The Congress with 16 seats received four ministerial berths while RJD which performed well by winning four out of the six it contested on was allocated one position reported PTIRadhakrishna Kishore a Congress legislator was appointed to oversee Finance Commercial Tax Planning and Development and Parliamentary Affairs JMMrsquos Deepak Biruwa was assigned Revenue Registration and Land Reforms nonregistration and Transport while his party colleague Chamra Linda was entrusted with the departments of Scheduled Tribes Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes excluding Minority Welfare RJDs Sanjay Prasad Yadav was given Industries Labour and Planning Training and Skill DevelopmentCongress Member of Legislative Assembly MLA Irfan Ansari was entrusted with the Health Medical Education and Family Welfare Food Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs and Disaster Management departments CM Soren also retained the Administrative Reforms Road Construction Building Construction and the other departments that were not allocated to anyone PTI reportedRamdas Soren JMM was given the School Education and Literacy and Registration departments while his party colleague Hafizul Hasan was appointed to handle Water Resources and Minority Welfare Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh was assigned Panchayati Raj Rural Works and Rural Development while another minister from JMM Yogendra Prasad took charge of Drinking Water and Sanitation as well as Excise and Prohibition departmentsJharkhand portfolio allocation Congress letter to CM leaked on social mediaSudivya Kumar JMM was made minister for Urban Development and Housing Higher and Technical Education and Tourism Art Culture Sports and Youth Affairs Shilpi Neha Tirkey Congress was appointed as the minister for the Agriculture Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives departmentsIn an unexpected development sources indicated that All India Congress Committee AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal had sent a letter to CM Soren detailing the allocation of portfolios to four of the Congress MLAs which was later leaked This prompted the government to make alterations to the initial allocationA Congress leader on the condition of anonymity told PTI that as per tradition the party had sent an internal letter to the CM requesting certain portfolios for its MLAs According to the leader Venugopal had sought Health for Deepika Pandey Singh Rural Development for Irfan Ansari Agriculture and Disaster Management for Shilpi Neha Tirkey and Finance and Planning for Radhakrishna Kishore However the letter was leaked on social media leading Soren to make some changesA source added that Congress leaders have demanded an inquiry by the party high command to identify the source of the leak Government officials have remained silent on the matterA total of 11 MLAs were sworn in as ministers in Hemant Sorenrsquos government on Thursday including six new faces and two women The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM contested 43 seats winning 34 mdash the highest number of constituencies ever secured by the party in the assembly polls Congress with 16 seats received four ministerial berths CPIML Liberation which won two seats as part of the INDIA alliance announced it would not participate in the cabinet The RJD a surprise contender in the Jharkhand assembly elections won four of the six seats it contested and was granted one ministerial berth In 2019 the RJD had only secured the Chatra seatThe BJP which contested 68 seats won 21 emerging as the secondlargest party in the assembly Soren the JMM executive president was sworn in as the CM on November 28 The JMMled coalition last month secured a dominant victory in Jharkhand winning 56 seats in the 81member assembly defeating the BJPled NDAWith PTI inputs