Hemant Soren took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand amid opposition show of strength, yesterday. Governor Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Hemant Soren.
The swearing-in ceremony took place at Morabadi ground in Ranchi at 2pm.
He took oath along with two Congress and one RJD legislator. The two Congress legislators who took oath of ministers are – Rameshwar Oraon and Alamgir Alam and RJD’s lone legislator Satyanand Bhokta.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel were present among others on the occasion.
The other leaders of different political parties who attended the ceremony include CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D Raja, NCP chief Sharad Pawar among others.
The Congress, the JMM and the RJD alliance won 47 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. Hemant Soren also has the support of the JVM-P and CPI-ML who have three and one
legislator respectively.
Born on August 10, 1975 in Nemara in Ramgarh district, Hemant Soren is the second of three brothers and has also a sister. As per an affidavit filed with the Election Commission, he was enrolled for the mechanical engineering course in BIT Mesra, Ranchi, but failed to
complete the course.
He has been vocal in opposing the BJP government led by Raghubar Das on different issues. He was one of the leaders who opposed the amendments brought in 2016 to the two land acts – Chhota Nagpur Tenancy Act and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act.
Hemant Soren has also shown his political acumen as a tough bargainer who does not shy away from taking a tough stand. He joined the opposition Grand Alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with the Congress, the JVM-P and the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal). As part of the electoral arrangement with the alliance, he surrendered seven seats to the Congress and kept only four for the JMM out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand.