Shibu Soren sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Minister

Ranchi, Dec 30 (ANI): Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chief Shibu Soren took oath as Chief Minister heading a five-party coalition in Jharkhand today.

Sixty-five-year-old Soren, who had been Chief Minister of Jharkhand twice earlier, took oath at the historic Morabadi ground in Ranchi.

Soren has been given ten days time to prove his five-party coalition's majority on the floor of the Assembly.

Earlier, a Raj Bhavan communique said that Governor K Sankaranaryanan has asked the Soren to take a floor test by January 8.

In the 81-member assembly, Soren's coalition got the support of 44 MLAs with JMM having 18, BJP 18, JD (U) 2, AJSU 5 and Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch one.

The new government is the seventh in Jharkhand since its creation nine years back.opularly known as 'Guruji', the JMM chief took to politics after battling for years moneylenders who exploited members of his poor and largely impoverished tribal community.

He was Chief Minister of Jharkhand state from 2008 to 2009. He was sworn in as the 6th Chief Minister of Jharkhand on August 27, 2008 and won a trust vote on August 29 in the Legislative Assembly.

On January 9, 2009, Soren was defeated in the by-election to the Tamar assembly constituency to political novice Gopal Krishan Patar alias Raja Peter of the Jharkhand Party by a margin of over 9,000 votes.

Soren was earlier reappointed as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on August 27, 2008 after his life term in the Shashinath Jha murder case was set aside by the Delhi High Court in August, 2007 citing the CBI as miserably failing in proving Soren's involvement in the crime.

He was the Minister for Coal in the Union Cabinet in November 2006, when a Delhi district court found him guilty in the murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha in 1994. He has also been indicted in the past on other criminal charges. (ANI)