The Champai Soren government in Jharkhand is facing a vote of trust today, on the first day of the two-day assembly session. While the MLAs of the ruling JMM-led alliance – who returned to Ranchi after staying in Hyderabad for 3 days to ‘thwart poaching attempts’– exuded confidence of winning the floor test, opposition BJP asserted that the coalition would be defeated.
The trust vote comes days after former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. He was remanded to ED custody for five days by a special PMLA court on February 2. JMM legislature party leader Champai Soren took oath as the new chief minister of the state.
Return of resort politics
Around 38 legislators of the ruling JMM had gone to Hyderabad in two flights on February 2, amid the coalition's fears that the BJP might attempt to "poach" them in the run-up to the trust vote.
The opposition BJP claimed that the MLAs in Hyderabad were kept under strict surveillance, which indicates that they were 'not confident of winning'.
"The saffron party will oppose the trust motion in the House tomorrow as Champai Soren, after taking oath as chief minister, had said he will take ahead the programmes of the previous Hemant Soren government. This reflects it is the Hemant Soren government part 2, which will also indulge in corruption and malpractices," alleged Biranchi Narain, Chief Whip of the BJP.
How numbers stack up in the assembly
Ahead of the trust vote in the assembly, which will determine whether the new government has the support of a majority of legislators in the state, here is a look at how numbers stack up in the 81-seat legislative assembly of the state:
The ruling alliance of Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha, Congress and the RJD has 47 MLAs, and it is supported from outside by a lone CPIML(L) legislator.
JMM – 29
Congress – 16
RJD – 1
CPIML – 1
The opposition has 31 MLAs in total.
BJP – 25
AJSU party – 3
NCP – 1
Independent – 2
One of the 81 seats is vacant.
The JMM is expected to win the trust vote as they comfortably cross the half-way mark of 41 needed to form the state government, according to the current numbers.
