NEW DELHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president Hemant Soren on Sunday met Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and staked claim to form the next government.
He was accompanied by Congress in-charge for Jharkhand GA Mir and other INDIA bloc partners and their representatives, including the RJD and the CPI-ML.
Soren, who resigned as the CM before driving to the Raj Bhavan, will take oath as the 14th Chief Minister of Jharkhand on November 28.
The state has seen seven CMs since its formation in November 2000. Soren yesterday led the ruling coalition to a comfortable win in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, becoming the first incumbent to return to power in the state.
Soren successfully beat anti-incumbency and BJP’s aggressive narratives built around his alleged corruption and encouragement to illegal immigration and settlement in tribal lands of the state. Soren’s party won 34 seats, the Congress 16, the RJD six and the CPI-ML two.
The simple majority mark in the state Assembly is 41.
Soren’s wife Kalpana also won her debut battle from Gandey. After meeting Gangwar, Soren said, “I met the Governor. We staked claim to form the government, and handed over a support letter from alliance partners to him.
He invited us to form the government. The swearing-in ceremony will be held on November 28.” Hemant Soren, who is the son of JMM supremo Shibu Soren, began his political career in 2009 as a Rajya Sabha member. In 2010, he resigned from the RS to become the Deputy CM in the BJP-led government. The coalition fell in 2012 and the state was placed under President’s Rule.
In 2013, he took oath as the state’s youngest CM at 38. The RJD and the Congress backed his government but his first term ended when the BJP came to power in 2014. Soren then became the Leader of the Opposition.
In 2016, when the BJP-led government attempted to change laws protecting tribal land, Soren led a movement against it and this, many observers say, catapulted him to power in 2019 when again backed by the Congress and the RJD, he became the CM.
At that time the JMM had won 30 seats. Yesterday, the JMM bagged 34 seats.