Jharkhand: Council of ministers to take oath on Thursday

The council of ministers of the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand will take oath on Thursday, officials said. Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar will administer the oath to the ministers at the Raj Bhavan.

According to the Raj Bhavan, the ceremony will begin with Stephen Marandi, the Protem Speaker, taking the oath around noon.

Marandi, a senior JMM MLA, was appointed Protem Speaker during the cabinet's first meeting on November 28. He will oversee the proceedings until a regular Speaker is elected. Following Marandi's oath, the ministers will take their oaths of office and secrecy.


The cabinet also decided to convene an assembly session from December 9-12.

Congress leader Rajesh Thakur confirmed that the list has been finalised and will be sent to the Governor by CM Soren.

"Everything has been finalised. The list will be sent to the Governor by the CM. It is an alliance government. We have fought together. People elected us and we will work together for the development of the state," he said.

Speculations are rife about the ministerial appointments, with Congress expected to receive four berths. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which emerged as a surprise element in the elections with its candidates winning in four of the six seats where the party contested, will get one ministerial berth, sources said.

In 2019, the RJD managed to win only the Chatra seat where Satyanand Bhokta had won.

The rest of the berths will be with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

JMM contested 43 seats and won 34, the highest-ever seats bagged by the party in assembly polls. The Congress got 16 seats, RJD 4 and the CPI (ML) secured 2 seats in the INDIA bloc.

The BJP contested 68 seats and won 21 seats and emerged as the second largest party.

Soren had taken oath as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand on November 28. This is the 49-year-old JMM leader's fourth stint as CM.

The JMM-led alliance last month stormed to power in Jharkhand for the second time in a row, securing 56 seats in the 81-member assembly, while the BJP-headed NDA managed 24 seats.