Ranchi : The stage is set for Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda to prove his majority on the floor of the 80-member house on Tuesday as directed by Governor M O H Farooq.
The venue would be the Administrative Training Institute since the assembly is being renovated. "As the state assembly is being renovated, the one-day session will be held at the Administrative Training Institute at 11 am," Assembly Speaker C P Singh told reporters here.
The house, which had a strength of 82 members, has been reduced to 80 following the death of Congress MLA Gopal Nath Shahdeo and nominated MLA from the Anglo-Indian community J P Galstaun recently, Singh said.
Asked whether he had received intimation of attending the session from Enos Ekka (Jharkhand Party-Ekka), Harinarain Rai (IND) and Paulus Surin (JMM) currently in judicial custody, the Speaker replied, "Not yet."
Only Surin among the three supports the Munda government. Ekka and Rai were arrested by the Vigilance Bureau nearly a year ago in connection with disproportionate assets case while Surin was arrested on Naxal charges.
All of them won the November assembly elections from judicial custody. Munda had staked claim on September 7 and was administered the oath by the governor on September 11 along with AJSU president Sudesh Mahto and JMM leader Hemant Soren. The governor had directed Munda to prove his majority in the house within a week.
Munda had submitted a list to the governor of 45 MLAs in support -- BJP-18, JMM-18, AJSU Party-5, JD(U)-2 and two independents -- to form the eighth government in less than 10 years of Jharkhand's creation.
The strength of other parties is: Congress- 13, JVM (P)- 11, RJD- 5, CPI (ML-Liberation) - one, Marxist Coordination Committee - one, Jharkhand Party (Ekka)-one, Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch-one and independents-two (Gita Koda and Harinarain Rai). "Separate sitting arrangements have been made for the ruling coalition and opposition members," the Speaker said. PTI
