Cabinet formation likely to be a herculean task for Hemant Soren

Patna: Having scored a landslide win for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, JMM working president and Chief Minister Hemant Soren is now facing a daunting task, whom to induct into the Cabinet.

Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister in the 81-member assembly.
It is almost certain that the JMM, Congress and the RJD will join the Cabinet when Hemant takes oath as the chief minister on November 28.

With too many claimants, an informal formula has been worked out among the constituents of I.N.D.I.A. bloc. According to this formula, one minister will be sworn in for every four MLAs.

As per this provision, JMM will have six ministers (besides the chief minister and the Speaker of the Assembly), Congress four and the RJD one. The CPI-ML is not keen to join the Cabinet.

Hemant, who remained non-committal on the number of ministers taking oath along with him is keen on giving due representation to women.

This is the first time in the state that 12 women legislators won the election. Out of the 12 MLAs, eight belong to the I.N.D.I.A bloc, including three from the JMM and five from the Congress. The remaining four are from the BJP.

All eyes will, therefore, be on who, of all the three JMM MLAs – Kalpana Soren, Luios Marandi and Savita Mahto - joins the Cabinet.

From the Congress camp, IPS-turned-politician and former minister Rameshwar Oraon and Irfan Ansari are most likely to be included in the Cabinet, besides Deepika Pandey. The RJD may prefer Suresh Paswan who won from the Deoghar reserved seat.

“By November 27, the Congress and the RJD are likely to hand over the list of probable ministers,” said a source in the ruling alliance in Ranchi, adding that “the oath ceremony on Thursday is likely to be attended by Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Sharad Pawar and Tejashwi Yadav.”

Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results | Check constituency results here

Jharkhand Assembly poll 2024 results | Check constituency results here

Bypoll 2024 results | Check Karnataka results here

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

Subscribe and follow DH on Whatsapp, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to never miss out on anything.