‘Our gathbandhan is very strong’: Champai Soren with 43 MLAs meets Jharkhand Governor

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislative party leader Champai Soren along with 43 legislators met Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan on Thursday, staking a claim to form the government in the state.

"We have demanded from the Governor that the process to start the formation of the new Government should begin. The Governor has also assured us that the process will begin soon," Champai Soren told reporters after the meeting with the governor.

"Currently, we have submitted the report with 43 MLAs in our support. We expect that the number will reach 46-47 so there is no problem. Our 'gathbandhan' is very strong," he added.

Champai Soren met governor CP Radhakrishnan on Thursday along with 43 MLAs of JMM, showcasing a majority support enough to form government in the 81-member assembly state.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance, which includes Congress and RJD ruling has 47 MLAs, including 29 of JMM, 17 of Congress, and 1 of RJD.

The BJP has 25 members and the AJSU party has three MLAs. The NCP and CPI (ML)L have one member each, apart from 3 Independents.

Soren, the state transport minister, is a seven-time MLA and he represents the Seraikella constituency in Jharkhand.

Meanwhile, JMM leader and former chief minister Hemant Soren was sent to one-day judicial custody by a special PMLA court in Ranchi, in connection with an alleged land scam case.

Soren was on Wednesday night arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) after six hours of questioning in the money laundering case linked to the alleged land scam.

According to the ED, CM Soren was questioned as a part of the probe into the "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia".

The probe pertains to huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by forging official records by showing "fake sellers" and purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land valued in crores.