The Champai Soren government in Jharkhand won the floor test on Monday by securing 47 votes in the 81-member Assembly.
The floor test was necessitated after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Champai Soren became the chief minister on February 2. Governor CP Radhakrishnan had given him 10 days to prove his government’s majority in the Assembly.
This came after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren resigned as the chief minister on January 31, shortly before getting arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
Prior to the trust vote, the ruling coalition, comprising the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, exuded confidence about winning the test in the legislature, according to PTI.
“Our MLAs are united and we have the support of 48 to 50 legislators in the 81-member assembly,” said state minister Alamgir Alam on Sunday.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court allowed Hemant Soren to participate in the trust vote.
‘We have not yet accepted defeat’
Addressing the Assembly on Monday before the floor test, the former chief minister alleged that the Raj Bhavan was involved in his overnight arrest, reported The Indian Express.
“This dark night is deeply embedded in the democracy of the country,” he said. “On January 31, a chief minister in the country was arrested.”
He added: “We have not yet accepted defeat. They [the Bharatiya Janata Party] think they can succeed by putting me behind bars, but this is Jharkhand where many people have laid down their lives.”
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief also said that he would give a befitting reply to “feudal forces’’ at an appropriate time.
Speaking about the money laundering allegations against him, Hemant Soren said that he would quit politics if “they show me records of my ownership of the 8.3 acres of land”. “Leave retirement from politics, I will leave Jharkhand if [the] BJP comes to the Vidhan Sabha with records of 8.3 acres of land,” said the former chief minister.
Further, he claimed that the “conspiracy” to arrest him was hatched because he belongs to an Adivasi community. “I will not shed my tears, for you the tears of Adivasis do not matter,” said Soren.
The case against Hemant Soren pertains to an alleged scam linked to the ownership of a land parcel in Ranchi, which the Enforcement Directorate claims was acquired through the “proceeds of crime” involving the illegal sale of Army land.
He was arrested after more than seven hours of questioning by the central agency. A day before his arrest, the Enforcement Directorate had seized Rs 36 lakh in cash and a luxury sports utility vehicle from his Delhi home.
The former Jharkhand chief minister also moved the Supreme Court on Thursday challenging his arrest. The court directed him to approach the Jharkhand High Court.
Also read: How Opposition is devising new strategies to counter the Enforcement Directorate
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