JMM supremo Shibu Soren, who heads a four-party coalition in Jharkhand that included the BJP, will be sworn in as Chief Minister--for the third time--on December 30 after Governor K Sankarananaryanan on Sunday in Ranchi invited the tribal leader to form the government.
"Soren will be sworn in at 2:00 pm on December 30, which he told the governor would be convenient for him," Raj Bhavan source said here. It would be an advance birthday gift for Soren, who turns 66 on January 11.
The Governor is expected to issue a formal communique in this regard only tomorrow in which he is likely to fix a date for Soren to prove his majority on the floor of the House. The President's rule which is in force since January this year in the state is also likely to be revoked tomorrow.
The new Soren government is taking the BJP support for the first time. It will be the seventh coalition set-up in the mineral-rich state since its creation on November 15, 2000. Soren's previous two tenures as chief minister were for a short-duration.
The JMM-led coalition has a support of 44 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly.
Soren, along with the BJP leader Raghubar Das and AJSU leader Sudesh Mahto, had yesterday called on the Governor and submitted letters of support of 42 MLAs in the 81-member House.
Later, last night, the figure swelled to 44 after the JDU also handed over a letter of support of its two MLAs to the Governor.
The JMM which has 18 MLAs has got the assured support of BJP(18), JDU(2) AJSU(5) and JJM(1). There was no final word on whether BJP and JD-U will be part of the government. PTI
