Jharkhand's Champai Soren govt to seek trust vote on Monday

RANCHI: The Champai Soren government in Jharkhand will seek a vote of confidence on Monday, the first day of the two-day assembly session.

The MLAs of the ruling JMM-led alliance exuded confidence of winning the floor test, while the opposition BJP asserted that the coalition would be defeated.

State minister Alamgir Alam had on Sunday said, ''Our MLAs are united and we have the support of 48 to 50 legislators in the 81-member assembly''.

A video, released by the coalition last week, had claimed that it has the support of 43 legislators. The alliance among the JMM, Congress and the RJD has 47 MLAs, and it is supported from outside by a lone CPIML(L) legislator.

The MLAs of the ruling alliance also exuded confidence to win the trust vote in the assembly, soon after their return to Ranchi from Hyderabad on Sunday evening.

However, Biranchi Narayan, Chief Whip of the BJP, had said the coalition was set to lose the vote of confidence on Monday.

He said the MLAs in Hyderabad were kept under strict surveillance, which indicates that they were not confident of winning.

About 38 legislators had gone to Hyderabad, the capital of Congress-ruled Telangana, in two flights on February 2, amid the coalition's fears that the BJP might attempt to ''poach'' them in the run-up to the trust vote.

JMM legislature party leader Champai Soren took oath as the chief minister of Jharkhand on February 2, after his predecessor Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in a money laundering case.

A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court has allowed him to participate in the trust vote.

Hemant Soren was remanded to ED custody for five days by the court on February 2.