Champai Soren, who was named by Hemant Soren as his successor, will take oath as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand today. On Thursday, Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan appointed Champai Soren as the Chief Minister designate but asked him to prove majority in 10 days.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) veteran Champai Soren, who was named by Hemant Soren as his successor, will take oath as the Chief Minister on Friday, between 12 pm and 2 pm, sources said. On Thursday, Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan appointed Champai Soren as the Chief Minister designate, but asked the latter to prove his majority in 10 days.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to hear Hemant Soren’s plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a land scam. The top court asked the former Jharkhand Chief Minister to approach the High Court instead.
This development came a day after Hemant Soren was sent to judicial custody for a day after he was produced before a special PMLA court in Ranchi.
Here are the latest developments in this big story:
- Besides Champai Soren’s swearing in as Chief Minister, Congress leader Alamgir Alan and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Satyanand Bhogta will be taking oath as Jharkhand Cabinet ministers on Friday.
- A special three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi heard Hemant Soren’s plea against summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate and his arrest by the probe agency. Soren had sought quashing of summons, calling it “illegal and impinge on his fundamental rights”.
- Hemant Soren had first moved the Jharkhand High Court. However, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, later told the CJI-led bench that the plea would be withdrawn from the High Court. On Thursday, both appeared for Hemant Soren before the Supreme Court and mentioned his plea as an urgent listing.
- The Enforcement Directorate has claimed in its investigation into the land scam that Hemant Soren illegally acquired and possessed land parcels of approximately 8.5 acres. The probe agency made this claim on Thursday while producing the former Jharkhand Chief Minister before a PMLA Court in Ranchi.
- In his plea, Hemant Soren said his is a clear case of abuse of law by the Centre and misuse of central agencies to harass him, and in doing so, destablise the democratically elected Jharkhand government. He further claimed the central agency is acting at the behest of the BJP-led Centre to fuel its “political ambition” in the state and also in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
- Before Champai Soren met the Jharkhand Governor on Thursday, the ruling coalition of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal released a video statement of the 43 Opposition MLAs backing the Chief Minister designate. Later, Champai Soren was accompanied by Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam, RJD MLA Satyanand Bhokta, CPI (ML) L legislator Vinod Singh and lawmaker Pradeep Yadav to meet Governor CP Radhakrishnan.
- In an attempt to ring-fence ruling coalition MLAs and thwart poaching bids by the BJP, the majorilty alliance in Jharkhand planned to shift their MLAs to Hyderabad on Thursday. Two chartered planes were supposed to take 39 coalition MLAs, including Hemant Soren’s brother MLA Basant Soren, to Hyderabad, but their flight failed to take off due to poor weather and low visibility.