Jharkhand Assembly takes up confidence vote of Arjun Munda govt

RANCHI - A special session of the Jharkhand Assembly on Tuesday took up the motion of confidence sought by the newly-formed Arjun Munda government.

Deputy Chief Minister Hemant Soren moved the motion on behalf of the BJP-led coalition, which assumed office on September 11.

The one-day session was called by State Governor M O H Farooq, who asked the chief minister to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly within a week of assuming office.

Before the House took up the motion for debate, a nominated MLA from the Anglo-Indian community took oath as a member, taking the effective strength of the House to 81.

Glen Joseph Gaulstan, whose nomination was approved by the Munda cabinet on Monday evening, replaced his father Joseph Gaulstan who passed away a few months ago.

With the nominated MLA, who has a voting right, the strength of the Munda government has increased to 46, including the Speaker.

Munda became the eighth chief minister of Jharkhand on September 11 with the backing of JMM, AJSU, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and two independent legislators.

No chief minister has ever completed a term since the State was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000.

Earlier on Thursday, the Union Cabinet had approved the revocation of President’s Rule in Jharkhand.

The decision came after the BJP staked its claim to form a government in Jharkhand with the support of the JMM and the AJSU.

The JMM-BJP coalition government plunged into a political crisis after the BJP withdrew its support to the government in the wake of Shibu Soren voting in favour of the UPA during the cut motion in parliament on April 27.

The BJP first announced it would immediately withdraw support from the JMM-led Government, which would have brought it down and effectively led to the imposition of President’s Rule or attempts by the Congress to form an alternative government.

However, by April 29 when the party received a letter from Hemant Soren, offering to support the BJP in leading the coalition, the withdrawal of support was “put on hold” and a dialogue was opened.

The JMM backtracked and demanded rotational power sharing with each party leading the government for 28 months.

This was agreed to by BJP on the understanding that Soren will quit as Chief Minister by May 25 after which Munda will head the new coalition government. (ANI)