JMM supremo Shibu Soren has been given 10 days time to prove his five-party coalition's majority on the floor of the Assembly after he takes oath as Chief Minister of Jharkand on Wednesday.
A Raj Bhavan communique said tonight that Governor K Sankaranaryanan has asked the 65-year-old two-time chief minister to take a floor test by January 8. Soren was invited by the Governor yesterday to form the government.
In the 81-member assembly, Soren's coalition got the support of 44 MLAs with JMM having 18, BJP 18, JD(U) 2, AJSU 5 and Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch one.
The new government is the seventh in the mineral-rich state since its creation nine years back. The oath-taking time has been re-scheduled from 2 PM to 10.30 AM, the communique said.
The new government is likely to have three ministers from JMM and four from BJP, sources in the coalition said, adding there could be two deputy chief ministers-- one from the BJP and another from the AJSU.
As per the Constitutional requirement, there can be 12 ministers including the CM in the 81-member state assembly.
Senior leaders Hemlal Murmu and Hussain Ansari are among the frontrunners for ministerial bereths in JMM.
The BJP may get four ministerial berth. Besides Raghuvir Das, the other party names doing the rounds are of Baijnath Ram, Arun Mandal and Nilkanth Singh Munda.
AJSU's Chandra Prakash Choudhary and Kamal Kishore Bhagat and Sudesh Mahto might get ministerial berths, AJSU insiders said. To accommodate a woman candidate, Soren might pick up JD(U)'s Sudha Choudhary, sources said.
Soren also went to Mumbai for a meeting with the new BJP president Nitin Gadkari after which he said the new alliance will provide a "stable government."
