Hemant takes oath as CM for 4th time, INDIA bloc stands with him

Ranchi: JMM working president Hemant Soren was sworn in as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand on Thursday in an open ceremony organised at Morabadi ground here and attended by who's who of the INDIA bloc.Thousands of state residents, who were extended a warm welcome by the power couple — Hemant and wife Kalpana — also attended the ceremony in which governor Santosh Gangwar administered the oath of office to Hemant in Hindi. Later, the governor extended warm wishes for good governance to Hemant.Taking a leaf out of legendary tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda's war cry — ‘Abua disum re, abua raaj' (Our land our rule) — Hemant used the slogan ‘Abua Sarkar, har Jharkhandi ki sarkaar' (our government, of every Jharkhand resident's govt) after being sworn-in as the chief minister, leading the first absolute majority govt of the state with 56-member coalition in the 81-member house. "This Jharkhandi govt will work day and night for the poor, deprived and oppressed people of our state," he said.On Hemant's swearing-in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the new CM with a message posted on X. "Congratulations Shri Hemant Soren on taking oath as Jharkhand CM, best wishes to him for his tenure ahead," Modi wrote.The mega event became an opportunity for the INDIA bloc leaders to demonstrate solidarity with Jharkhand and share the dais. Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge; the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann are some of the notable leaders who attended the ceremony. Though the leaders refrained from speaking publicly or talking to the media, they individually greeted Hemant and sought blessings of the senior Soren on the dais — Shibu and his wife Rupi.Prior to attending the oath ceremony, Hemant and his wife Kalpana went to his father's residence, 100m away from the programme venue and sought his blessings. "Our family is our biggest strength. The family and children make us mature, sensitive, forgiving and foresighted. After coming to politics, every family in Jharkhand is my family," Hemant later wrote on X.Among the other notable INDIA bloc leaders who attended the event are Karnataka deputy CM D K Shiv Kumar, his Telangana counterpart Mallu Bhatti Vikramark, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his wife Sunita, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, national general secretary of CPI-ML Depankar Bhattacharya, Tamil Nadu minister Udaynidhi Stalin and almost all legislators of the ruling alliance of Jharkhand. Debutant legislator Jairam Mahto of the new political party, Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha, also attended the ceremony and expressed his support to the govt.Jharkhand BJP legislator Babulal Marandi extended wishes to Soren but the MLAs of NDA bloc skipped the function. Meanwhile, murmurs of criticism started in the opposition camp as no other MLA was administered oath as a minister along with Hemant.Hemant said the focus of the new govt would be on timely delivery of services and the cabinet expansion would be expanded soon. The coalition govt of 34 JMM MLAs, 16 from Congress, four from RJD and two from CPI-ML is likely to induct six ministers from JMM, four from Congress and one from RJD in the cabinet which can have a maximum of 12 members.