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Ranchi, Feb. 2 (PTI): JMM legislature party leader Champai Soren will take oath as the Jharkhand chief minister on Friday after Governor C P Radhakrishnan appointed him to the post, officials said.
The oath-taking ceremony will be held around 12.15 pm at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan here, they said.
Champai Soren was appointed to the chief minister's post on Thursday after he urged the governor to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest as there was "confusion" in the state which was without a chief minister since the resignation of Hemant Soren on Wednesday, deepening a political crisis.
Champai Soren has been given 10 days to prove his government's majority, said state Congress chief Rajesh Thakur whose party is a constituent of the JMM-led alliance.
"We stand united. Our alliance is very strong. No one can break it," Champai Soren had said.
The 67-year-old tribal leader will be sworn in as the 12th chief minister of the state. He will be the sixth CM from the Jharkhand’s Kolhan region which comprises East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.
According to JMM sources, senior Congress leader Alamgir Alam and RJD leader Satyanand Bhokta will also take oath as cabinet ministers.
RJD is also a constituent of the alliance.
In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the majority alliance has 47 MLAs -- JMM 29, Congress 17 and RJD 1. The BJP has 26 members and the AJSU Party three. The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents.
The lawmakers of the JMM-led alliance may be taken to Hyderabad during the day in a bid to ring-fence them against a possible poaching attempt by the BJP, the sources said.
Hyderabad is the capital of Telangana which is governed by the Congress.
Notably, JMM executive president Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud after he resigned as Jharkhand chief minister.