Hemant Soren To Be Sworn In As Jharkhand CM In Opposition Show Of Strength

Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Hemant Soren is set to be sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand. He will take the oath of office and secrecy administered by Governor Droupadi Murmu on Sunday at 2 pm at Morabadi Ground in Ranchi.

In a show of opposition strength, the swearing-in ceremony will see the presence of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress chief ministers from Rajasthan Chhattisgarh and Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel and DMK president, MK Stalin, among others.

Jharkhand caretaker chief minister, BJP's Raghubar Das is also likely to attend the event.

After the JMM-led alliance emerged as the winner, with his party alone getting 47 seats, Hemant Soren met the Governor along with his alliance partners the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD on Tuesday. He then staked a claim to form the government and is all set to be sworn in as the chief minister of Jharkhand with the opposition showcasing its unity at the oath-taking ceremony.

For the BJP, the Jharkhand loss came at a time when widespread protests broke out against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in many parts of the country. It also meant that Jharkhand was the fifth state to slip out of its grasp after Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh in assembly polls towards the end of 2018 and failing to form a government in Maharashtra along with its former ally, Shiv Sena.