Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren is set to win the trust vote on the floor of Assembly on Thursday, but his nascent government is far from safely anchored. Inducting nine more ministers and distributing portfolios among them may be a daunting task, and one that has the potential to rock the boat.
The waters are already rippling. Soren?s ally All Jharkhand Students Union president and one of the deputy chief ministers, Sudesh Mahato, wants home and road construction ministries, which he headed during the Arjun Munda government in 2005, but the chief minister does not seem inclined to oblige him.
To checkmate Mahato, Soren has enlisted support of the six Independents?Videsh Singh, Bandhu Tirkey, Chamra Linda, Enos Ekka, Harinaraian Rai and Geeta Koda, wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, all six of whom have been to jail for fraud, corruption and amassing disproportionate wealth. The Independents may keep the boat afloat, at least for now. They will give Soren a comfortable majority in the 81-member Assembly. Soren?s coalition already has 43 MLA?s.
Mahato is not the only worry. Soren can induct only nine ministers?law limits the strength of the ministry to 12 and three are already occupied by Soren and deputy chief ministers Raghuvar Das and Mahato — but the contenders are too many.
As per agreement, the JMM and BJP would each get three ministries, the All Jharkhand Students Union will get two and JD(U) one. The contenders for the nine posts include BJP?s Baijnath Ram, Badkunwar Gagarai, Satyanand Jha,Neelkanth Singh Munda and Arun Mandal, All Jharkhand Students Union?s Chandra Prakash Choudhary and Kamal Kishore Bhagat,JD(U)?s Sudha Choudhary and Gopal Krishna Patar and JMM?s Hemlal Murmu,Hazi Hussain Ansari,Mathura Mahato,Champai Soren and Teklal Mahato.
However, Soren denied he faced any problems in inducting ministers and distributing portfolios. ?We will resolve all these problems amicably,? he said.
Meanwhile, BJP?s Chandreshwar Prasad Singh, who won the Ranch for fourth time, was on Wednesday elected Speaker of Assembly. Asked if he had any plans to train the 36 MLAs, who have entered the Assembly for the first time, Singh said, ?We have already started educating and training them about the parliamentary system of governance.?