Khela Hobe In Jharkhand Or A Smooth Sail For Champai Soren? Hemant Soren Reaches Assembly

All eyes are on Jharkhand today where the new Chief Minister of the JMM-RJD-Congress alliance Champai Soren will have to prove a majority during the floor test today. CM Champai Soren reached the assembly with alliance MLAs this morning while former CM Hemant Soren was brought to the house by the Enforecement Directorate. The floor test is like a 'litmus test' for any government, where unexpected events such as legislators not showing up, cross-voting, defections or even mobile phones being switched off can occur. Ahead of the floor test, the ruling Mahagathbandhan in Jharkhand had sent its MLAs to Hyderabad to avoid any poaching. While the ruling alliance is confident of its numbers, the BJP is hoping for a 'Khela Hobe' moment.

The MLAs returned to Ranchi last night hours ahead of the majority test in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. They landed at the Birsa Munda Airport via a special flight and were then taken to the city's Circuit House in two buses. The coalition government is concerned that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may poach its legislators. 

JMM legislator Mithilesh Thakur claims that their coalition will easily gain the confidence vote. He also asserted that 'several BJP legislators in the state support the coalition.' Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam stated, "Our legislators are united. We have the support of 48 to 50 legislators."

However, BJP's chief spokesperson, Biranchi Narayan, stated that the coalition government will not be able to secure the confidence vote today. Legislators were closely monitored in Hyderabad, indicating a lack of confidence in their victory, he said.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, the 'JMM-Congress-RJD' coalition has 47 legislators, and it has the external support of one legislator from the CPI (ML). Looking at it this way, if nothing unexpected happens, the Champai government will easily gain the confidence vote. On the other hand, the NDA has 29 MLAs, which is 12 short of the majority mark of 41.