Jharkhand Governor nominates Champai Soren as Chief Minister

Jharkhand governor nominates JMM leader Champai Soren as chief minister; invites him to take oath on Friday.

Jharkhand Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan late on February 1 nominated JMM leader Champai Soren as Chief Minister and invited him to take oath on Friday.

The JMM leader earlier met the Governor and urged him to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest as there was “confusion” in the State, which was without a chief minister since the resignation of Hemant Soren, deepening the political crisis.

Amid concerns over the delay in the appointment of JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren as the next chief minister by the Governor, the majority alliance also took steps to shift its MLAs from Jharkhand in two chartered planes, in a bid to ring-fence them against a possible poaching attempt by the BJP.

The alliance had planned to take its MLAs to Hyderabad from Ranchi in two chartered planes — one 12-seater and another of 37 seats.

Hyderabad is the capital of Telangana which is governed by the Congress, a constituent of the coalition.

However, the planes could not take off due to poor visibility, airport sources said.