Senior BJP leader Raghubar Das will take over as Chief Minister of Jharkhand today. Governor Sayyed Ahmed will administer him the oath of office and secrecy at the Morhabadi ground in Ranchi at 11 AM. The 59-year-old BJP leader, will be the first non-tribal Chief Minister of the state. BJP MLAs CP Singh, Neelkanth Singh Munda and Louis Marandi and AJSU MLA Chandra Prakash Choudhri will also take oath as Ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will attend the swearing in ceremony. Mr. Das yesterday met the BJP President in New Delhi and discussed the government formation. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Das said, his priority will be to make Jharkhand corruption free by ensuring good governance.
AIR correspondent reports, there is visible excitement in BJP-AJSU camp over the swearing ceremony, and people are coming in from different part of state to witness the swearing of first government with clear majority in 14 years of state history.
About three Chief Ministers, several Union Ministers are to attend the function besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. Entrance into the stadium is free and without any passes. Raghubar Das would be 10th Chief Minister of the state, and incidentally the first non-tribal Chief Minister. Yesterday state bandh call given by few organizations against a non-tribal Chief Minister evoked no response.
Meanwhile, hectic parleys continued for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir. PDP, which emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly polls, is yet to respond to the unconditional support extended by Congress and the National Conference. Governor NN Vohra has invited PDP and BJP on 1st of January to explore the possibility of forming a new government in the State after recently concluded elections thrown up a hung Assembly.
Meanwhile, behind-the-scene contacts among the principal players including the National Conference and the Congress intensified. PDP said yesterday that they are keeping all options open and no decision has been taken yet. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has mooted the idea of a grand alliance between PDP, National Conference and the Congress.
AIR correspondent reports, with senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s floating the idea of a “grand alliance” between Peoples Democratic Party, National Conference and his party, to form the next government in the State, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has come down heavily to the idea and said that Azad’s dream to be part of government will not come true. The party also said that it will form the next government within few days and will not allow grand alliance between PDP, NC and Congress.
According to BJP’s Member Parliament and J&K affairs in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna “Azad’s dream to be a part of government will not come true as without BJP it is not possible to form government in Jammu and Kashmir. Khanna said that BJP is finalizing the modalities and the new government will start functioning within few days.
