Security personnel patrol the premises of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha on Sunday
New Delhi:
Some 40 MLAs of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and its alliance partners returned to Ranchi from Hyderabad late Sunday evening to attend the floor test on Monday.
The MLAs were kept in a resort near Hyderabad after JMM leader Champai Soren was appointed Chief Minister. His predecessor Hemant Soren, the son of JMM co-founder Shibu Soren, is in jail in an alleged corruption case.
The ruling JMM took the ‘resort politics’ route to prevent its MLAs from being ‘approached’ by rival parties for switching sides.
The ruling alliance in Jharkhand has five more MLAs from the majority mark of 41 in the 81-member assembly. One of the 81 seats is vacant, hence the majority mark of 41 when counted for 80 seats.
The JMM, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Communist Party of India (ML) have a total of 46 MLAs. These are JMM (28), Congress (16), RJD (1), and CPI(ML) 1.
The BJP and allies have 29 MLAs.
Unless something drastic or a big twist happens, the JMM government will sail through the floor test, political analysts said.
This is not the first time the JMM is facing a floor test. In September 2022, Hemant Soren’s government won a majority test with 48 votes in his favour. Then too, Hemant Soren faced a threat of disqualification from the assembly over allegations of corruption.
The current Chief Minister, Champai Soren, has actively participated in the Jharkhand movement in the late 90s along with Shibu Soren. He was a Transport Minister in the Hemant Soren government. He also has the backing of the Soren family.