Source – indiatoday.in
On December 29, when Hemant Soren took over as Jharkhand’s 11th chief minister, he allowed three ministers – two from the Congress and one from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to take oath with him. More than three weeks after the swearing-in, Hemant Soren is yet to expand his cabinet too. He has not even allotted potfolios to the three ministers already sworn-n.
According to sources, the most important reason for the delay in cabinet expansion in Jharkhand is that Soren’s ally Congress is insisting on five berths, whereas Hemant Soren is willing to give up only four.
Chief Minister Soren, who is believed to have already discussed the cabinet expansion exercise with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, also has the heavy task of satisfying the aspirations of his own party legislators, besides maintaining a fine balance between tribal and non-tribal claimants of cabinet portfolios.
In the recently concludes Assembly elections, the JMM won 30 seats, which is its highest tally in the assembly since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in December 2000.
While the Congress is believed to have asked for important portfolios like health, education and rural development, Soren also has to satisfy some of the senior most MLA in his party, majority of whom once worked as close associates of his father Shibu Soren. There are over half-a-dozen JMM legislators who have won the Assembly polls four-five times and are aspiring to be head a key ministry.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Hemant Soren last week postponed his cabinet expansion exercise from set date of January 24 to an unknown date in the future.
Soren, on January 23, had met Governor Draupadi Murmu to schedule the cabinet expansion on January 24. While a time was fixed and preparations were on for the swearing-in, the chief minister once again met the governor in the evening to postpone the scheduled cabinet expansion. Killing of seven tribal persons in West Singhbhum was cited as a reason for the postponement.
Earlier, Soren is believed to have delayed his cabinet expansion exercise till January 15 when kharmas, an inauspicious period in Hindu calendar, ended.
The JMM, the Congress and the RJD won 30, 16 and 1 seat, respectively. With such a majority, Hemant was expected to quickly put his act together, but ironically he has not been able to take any major decisions so far.
The 91st Amendment Act and subsequent insertion of section 1A in Article 164 of the Indian Constitution mandate that the total number of ministers, including the chief minister, in the council of ministers in a state shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total number of members of the legislative assembly of that state. With a legislative assembly of 81 elected members, Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister.
A senior Congress leader told India Today TV that the party wants to have five berths in Hemant Cabinet. The Congress leaders have been arguing that since they gave up their claim to the speaker’s post, the JMM should reciprocate and give five berths.
The state leadership has conveyed its position to the Congress central leadership, which is believed to have conveyed the same to Hemant Soren.