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Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren took oath as Chief Minister today, days after the INDIA bloc's decisive victory in the Assembly polls. Top leaders of the INDIA Opposition bloc were in Ranchi's Moradabad Ground to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav attended the event. Hemant Soren was the only one to take oath today as the Mahagathbandhan allies are still negotiating over cabinet berths.
In the state polls, results of which were declared on Saturday, the JMM-led alliance won 56 seats in the 81-member House. The Hemant Soren-led party, which contested 41 seats, won 34, and the Congress managed victory on 16 out of 30 seats. RJD and CPIML won six and four seats, respectively.
Forty-nine-year-old Hemant Soren started his political career with a short stint in Rajya Sabha before becoming an MLA in 2009. He served as Deputy Chief Minister from 2010 to 2013 when JMM was in an alliance with the BJP and Arjun Munda was Chief Minister. Later in 2013, he became Chief Minister with the JMM tying up with the Congress and RJD. In the 2014 state election, the BJP came to power and Mr Soren took over as Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. The JMM-Congress alliance won the 2019 Assembly election and Mr Soren started his second stint as Chief Minister.
Earlier this year, he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. Mr Soren has denied the charges and accused the BJP of using probe agencies for political goals. Ahead of his arrest, he resigned and his close aide Champai Soren took over as Chief Minister. After over six months in jail, Mr Soren was granted bail. When he moved to take over as Chief Minister again, Champai Soren quit the JMM, alleging that he was humiliated.
Mr Soren's arrest and imprisonment also brought his wife Kalpana to the political stage. Ms Soren campaigned extensively and attended grand meetings of the Opposition parties in her husband's absence. In this Assembly polls, she was elected as an MLA too.
The BJP had pushed hard to score a victory in Jharkhand, with its top leaders travelling to the state during the poll campaign. Its campaign accused the ruling party of aiding the infiltration of Bangladesh refugees, among other issues. But the Hemant Soren government's public welfare schemes and the sympathy wave in the wake of his arrest trumped the BJP's poll push and brought JMM back to power.