Champai Soren took oath as Jharkhand CM on February 2, after his predecessor Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week.

Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren won the crucial trust vote on the floor of the Assembly on Monday, ensuring that the JMM-led coalition had no further hiccups in running the state government. While 47 MLAs in the 81-member assembly voted in favour of the confidence motion, 29 legislators opposed it. Independent legislator Saryu Roy abstained.

Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh.(ANI)

Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren won the crucial trust vote on the floor of the Assembly on Monday, ensuring that the JMM-led coalition had no further hiccups in running the state government. While 47 MLAs in the 81-member assembly voted in favour of the confidence motion, 29 legislators opposed it. Independent legislator Saryu Roy abstained.

The ruling alliance comprises the JMM, Congress and the RJD while it is supported from outside by the lone CPIML(L) legislator.

“Jharkhand shattered the arrogance of the dictator. India won, the people won. The INDIA coalition government passed the trust vote in the Assembly today. Many congratulations to all of you. Jai Johar,” the Congress said in a post in Hindi on X soon after the trust vote.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hailed the win as a testament to the failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “Operation Lotus” strategy.

“We have won the confidence vote very convincingly. The operation lotus of the BJP has been unsuccessful,” declared Jairam Ramesh, expressing confidence in the stability of the coalition government.

The Congress leader hit out at the alleged attempts by the BJP to destabilise the government in Jharkhand, noting the arrest of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the subsequent delays in the swearing-in of Champai Soren.

“First, they arrested Hemant Soren, got him to resign. Then, they delayed the swearing-in of Champai Soren. This government will survive the balance term of one year and we will go to the people of Jharkhand for a renewed mandate based on the work that we have done,” Ramesh affirmed.

Ramesh also alleged that the governors are “biased” in their role, be it Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand or Bihar and said they do what the home ministry tells them.

“Governors are biased everywhere – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Manipur, J&K, Jharkhand, Bihar. Governors do what the Home Ministry tells them and PMO. This is all the doings of ‘G2’,” he said, in an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.

Earlier in the day, Ramesh drew a parallel between the political developments in Bihar and Jharkhand, highlighting that Nitish Kumar, now with the NDA, was given almost 15 days to prove the alliance’s majority while Champai Soren’s government wasn’t even given a week.

“Clearly the G-2, the PM and HM, are thinking that ‘horse-trading’ will be quicker in Jharkhand than in Bihar. They are in for a big shock,” he said.

“The INDIA group will easily win the vote of confidence today in Jharkhand and the BJP’s attempts at breaking RJD and INC in Bihar will also fail miserably.”