Jharkhand: CM Hemant Soren government to move confidence motion on Monday

RANCHI: Taking a leaf out of Aam Admi Party's strategy in Delhi, the Hemant Soren-led coalition government in Jharkhand would move a confidence motion in the extended monsoon assembly session on Monday.
Talking to TOI, parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam said an air of political uncertainty is created by tweets of BJP leaders. "We need to dispel this uncertainty for once and all. We have the people's mandate and the required numbers in the 81-member House to remain in majority. The government would like to tell everyone that the Hemant Soren-led coalition government enjoys the support of the majority MLAs and the general electorate in particular," he said.
He said the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi moved a confidence motion on its own to prove that the 'operation lotus' has failed in the national capital. "We are doing the same here."
The UPA government in the state has been carefully making a strategy since the day the EC's letter on CM Hemant Soren's office-of-profit case reportedly reached the Raj Bhavan without any official confirmation but with selective leaks to different media houses.
Alam said, "The Raj Bhavan remained silent for long but admitted to receiving the letter from the EC when a UPA delegation met governor Ramesh Bais on Thursday. The governor rushed to Delhi a day after we met him, indicating that BJP is buying time to poach our MLAs."
Former joint secretary of the assembly, Uday Bhan Singh, said, "Since the proposal for declaring the closure of the monsoon session of the assembly after its sine die adjournment was not yet sent to the governor for approval, the cabinet brought in a proposal to cancel the adjournment and continue with an extended monsoon session."
Commenting on the benefit of seeking a trust vote, former speaker of the Jharkhand assembly, Inder Singh Namdhari, said, the exercise would have a "perception value rather than a legal standing". He said, "Quite similar to what Arvind Kejriwal did in the Delhi assembly, the Hemant Soren-led government seems to be sending a message that his government enjoys the confidence of the House."
Namdhari, however, said if the CM Is disqualified by the governor and not barred to contest polls, he can stake claim to form a new government. "It now depends on the governor. If he asks the new cabinet to prove its majority on the floor of the House and at the same time, a party or a political group is staking claim to form the government, it could be embarrassing for the governor to ask them to prove a majority when they have already done so. If the CM is disqualified, the trust vote which could be conducted on Monday will have no legal standing."