Cabinet expansion, not floor test, may be Hemant Soren’s real task in election year

Hemant Soren faces challenges in Jharkhand amid changed political landscape, aiming to win floor test for third term.

On July 8, when Hemant Soren, who has become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand for the third time, takes a floor test, he will do so amid challenges thrown up by a changed political landscape in a State that is going to the polls later this year.

For the first time in the State, no MLA was sworn in as a Minister along with the Chief Minister. Sources in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said it was a well-planned strategy not to swear in any Minister before the floor test.

“Had the names of Ministers been announced before the floor test, Hemant Soren would have landed in trouble. The situation after the results of the Assembly elections in December 2019 and now is totally different,” a party source said.

Five months ago, when Mr. Soren went to jail and Champai Soren took over the reins, there was rumble within the party over ministerial berths. Pressure mounted on Mr. Champai Soren as many MLAs wanted to become Ministers. Baidyanath Ram of the party openly said that his name was dropped at the last minute when Mr. Champai Soren formed the government. There was talk of Irfan Ansari of the Congress being made a Minister after Alamgir Alam of the Congress went to jail in an alleged commission scam.

However, the bail granted to Mr. Soren by the Jharkhand High Court and his returning to the Chief Minister’s office seems to have started another round of discussion on giving ministerial berths to MLAs, especially keeping the Assembly election, scheduled later this year, in mind.

In 2019, Mr. Soren did not face any trouble in forming and running the government. Initially, the coalition government had 46 MLAs -- 30 of the JMM, 15 of the Congress and one of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Later, one MLA each from the CPI-ML and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) joined the coalition. Two MLAs of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey, joined the Congress, taking the total number of MLAs to 50.

In the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly, the majority mark is 41. However, out of the 30 MLAs of JMM, Nalin Soren and Joba Manjhi have become Lok Sabha members. Sita Soren, the eldest daughter-in-law of JMM supremo Shibu Soren, has been expelled from the party after she resigned and joined the BJP to contest the Lok Sabha election. Two BJP MLAs, Manish Jaiswal and Dhullu Mahato, have become Lok Sabha members bringing the total number of MLAs in the Assembly to 76. Mr. Soren requires 39 MLAs to win the floor test.