RANCHI: Hemant Soren will take oath as the 14th Jharkhand Chief Minister on Thursday but the Cabinet expansion is likely to take place later. Sources in the JMM-led alliance said that Soren has decided to take oath alone due to differences within the Congress over who will be inducted into the ministry.
“The cabinet expansion will take place later,” state Congress in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir said on Wednesday.
The Congress has not yet decided on its ministerial candidates and the legislative party leader. The CPI (M-L), an ally of the JMM, has also not decided whether it will join the Cabinet. It has called a meeting on November 29 to discuss the issue. Sources said the alliance is working on a formula of one ministerial post for every five MLAs. If a consensus is reached on the formula, JMM can get six berths, Congress four and RJD and CPI (M-L) one each.
On Tuesday, Soren went to Delhi with his wife Kalpana Soren and met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to discuss ministerial posts for the Congress, but sources said that they failed to reach a consensus. Barring Rameshwar Oraon, Shweta Singh and Nishat Alam, almost all newly elected MLAs are camping in Delhi to secure a ministerial berth.
Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar will administer the oath of office to Soren at Morhabadi Ground in Ranchi at 4 pm. This will be the 49-year-old leader’s fourth stint as CM.
Eighteen top leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, of ten parties have given their consent to be present at the oath ceremony.
Kharge, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, and Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, among others, will attend the oath ceremony.
Others expected to attend are Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M-L) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Sivakumar, and RJD Tejashwi Yadav.
“It’s heartening to have such esteemed leaders join us for this important occasion,” said Soren, who along with senior officials paid a visit to Morhabadi Ground on Wednesday evening to take stock of the preparations for the swearing-in ceremony.