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RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday allocated portfolios among the newly appointed ministers in his government, consolidating power within the coalition following its strong electoral victory.
Soren kept key departments such as Home and Personnel to himself, while allotting other major portfolios like Finance, Health and Panchayati Raj to Congress legislators.
The lone Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) minister was given Industries and Labour.
The new cabinet consists of 12 ministers including the CM – seven from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), four from Congress, and one from the RJD.
The JMM, which won 34 of the 43 seats it contested, received seven cabinet positions, including the Chief Minister’s post. Congress, with 16 seats, secured four ministerial berths. RJD, which performed well by winning four of the six seats it contested, was given one ministerial position.
Radhakrishna Kishore, a Congress MLA, was appointed to oversee Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development, and Parliamentary Affairs, giving him responsibility for the state’s fiscal health and legislative matters.
JMM’s Deepak Biruwa received the portfolios of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms (non-registration), and Transport, focusing on land management and transportation.
Chamra Linda, another JMM leader, was assigned the departments of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and Backward Classes (excluding Minority Welfare), while Sanjay Prasad Yadav of the RJD was given Industries, Labour, and Planning, Training, and Skill Development.
Congress MLA Irfan Ansari was entrusted with Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management.
The chief minister also kept portfolios including Administrative Reforms, Road Construction, and Building Construction, and other departments not allocated to anyone.
Ramdas Soren (JMM), got the School Education and Literacy and Registration departments, while party MLA Hafizul Hasan was assigned the departments of Water Resources and Minority Welfare.
Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh was given the departments of Panchayati Raj, Rural Works, and Rural Development, while JMM’s Yogendra Prasad was appointed to handle Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Excise and Prohibition.
Sudivya Kumar (JMM) was made minister for Urban Development and Housing, Higher and Technical Education, and Tourism, Art, Culture, Sports, and Youth Affairs.
Shilpi Neha Tirkey (Congress) was appointed to Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Cooperatives.
Meanwhile, sources said that AICC general secretary KC Venugopal had sent a letter to Chief Minister Soren detailing the allocation of portfolios to four of the Congress MLAs, which was somehow leaked forcing the government to make some alterations to it.
A Congress leader, on the condition of anonymity, told PTI that as per the tradition, the Congress has sent an internal letter to the CM requesting certain portfolios for its MLAs.
According to the leader, Venugopal sought Health for Deepika Pandey Singh, Rural Development for Irfan Ansari, Agriculture and Disaster Management for Shilpi Neha Tirkey, and Finance and Planning for Radha Krisha Kishore.
However, the letter was leaked on social media, prompting Soren to make some changes to the list.
A source said Congress leaders have demanded an inquiry from the party high command as to who was behind the leak.
The government officials kept silent on the letter.
A total of 11 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand on Thursday. They included six new faces and two women.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) contested 43 seats and won 34, the highest-ever constituencies bagged by the party in the assembly polls.
The Congress got four ministerial berths. The party had won 16 seats in the assembly elections, while CPI(ML) Liberation, which secured two seats as an ally of the INDIA bloc, earlier announced that it would not be a part of the cabinet.
The RJD, which emerged as a surprise element in the Jharkhand assembly elections with its candidates winning in four of the six seats where the party contested, got one ministerial berth.
In 2019, the RJD managed to win only the Chatra seat where Satyanand Bhokta had won.
The BJP contested 68 seats, won 21 and emerged as the second-largest party in the assembly.
Soren, the JMM executive president, himself was sworn in as the CM on November 28.
The JMM-led coalition last month stormed to power for the second time in a row in Jharkhand, steamrolling the BJP-headed NDA, by winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly.
