Jharkhand Trust Vote today: Champai Soren government will take a floor test to prove its majority today.
The Champai Soren government in Jharkhand -- formed last week after a massive political crisis following the arrest of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren -- will take a floor test shortly to prove its majority. The majority mark in the assembly in 41
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Speaking in the Assembly, Champai Soren accused the BJP of trying to destabilise the democratically elected Jharkhand government. Party colleague and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren brought a serious charge against the Governor, saying the Raj Bhavan was "part of the conspiracy" leading to his arrest.
Earlier, surrounded by cops, former Chief Minister Hemant Soren reached the Assembly this morning to cast his vote in the majority test. A court on Saturday allowed the jailed JMM leader to cast his vote.
The JMM has 29 seats, its ally Congress has 17 and RJD and CPI (ML) have 1 seat in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. This adds up to 48. On the other side, the BJP has 26 MLAs and its ally All Jharkhand Students' Union has three.
One JMM MLA, Sarfaraz Ahmed, had earlier resigned. This has brought down the strength of the Assembly to 80. The majority mark now stands at 41.
The JMM has claimed that it has enough votes to sail through the majority test. JMM lawmaker Mithilesh Thakur has claimed many BJP legislators are backing their alliance.
The MLAs had been flown to Hyderabad to keep the flock together and prevent any horse-trading attempt. They returned last night to participate in the majority vote.
"Our MLAs are united... We have the support of 48 to 50 legislators," state minister Alamgir Alam told reporters on their return from Hyderabad this evening.
JMM lawmaker Mithilesh Thakur asserted that the party-led coalition will sail through the trust vote, reported news agency Press Trust of India. "Many BJP legislators are also in support of the alliance in the state," he claimed. Biranchi Narain, Chief Whip of the BJP in the state, said the coalition was set to lose the vote of confidence.
Champai Soren -- along with ministers Alamgir Alam of the Congress and Satyanand Bhokta of the RJD -- was administered the oath of office by Governor CP Radhakrishnan on February 2,over 24 hours after Hemant Soren stepped down from the top post.
Shortly after, he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case connected to a land scam. The former Chief Minister -- who was questioned on Wednesday morning -- was being evasive, the Central agency had said, and pointed to the seven summons he had evaded.
