Ranchi:Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren will seek to prove his majority on the floor of the house Friday.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was sworn in as the sixth chief minister of the state Wednesday along with 11 ministers.

While inviting Soren to form the government on Aug 25, Governor Syed Sibte Razi had asked him to prove his majority by Sep 1.

The 11 ministers who took oath include three legislators from the JMM - Sudhir Mahto, Nalin Soren and Dulal Bhuiya - who were ministers in the previous Madhu Koda government.

The other ministers are Bhanu Pratap Sahi and Aparna Sen Gupta of the Forward Bloc, Bandhu Tirkey and Jobha Manjhi of the United Goan Democratic Party (UGDP), Kamlesh Singh of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and independent legislators Stephen Marandi, Enos Ekka, Harinarayan Rai.

Except Aparna Sen Gupta, all were ministers in the Koda government.

JMM withdrew support from the Koda government Aug 17. Koda resigned Saturday after getting direction from the central United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leaders.

Shibu Soren staked claim Monday to form the government with the support of 42 legislators in the 82-member house. The Congress with nine members and the RJD with seven are supporting the government from outside. The JMM has 17 legislators.

Two suspended Bharatiya Janata Party legislators, Manohar Tekriwal and Vishnu Bhaiya, have also announced their support to Soren.

The Congress agreed to back Soren's claim to be the chief minister of Jhakhand after JMM's five Lok Sabha MPs helped Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to win a trust vote in the Lok Sabha last month.

 

Source : IANS