Arjun Munda becomes eighth Jharkhand CM

Ranchi : Arjun Munda of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on Saturday sworn in as the chief minister of a BJP-JMM coalition government in Jharkhand, ending political uncertainty in the state and months of President’s rule after the same coalition broke up.

Munda took oath as chief minister of Jharkhand for the third time- he is the eighth chief minister of the state with Saturday’s swearing in- following the withdrawal of the President’s rule imposed after the BJP-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) coalition led by Shibu Soren broke up.

BJP parliamentary board had on April 28 decided to withdraw support to the JMM government in Jharkhand after Soren voted against the party-sponsored cut motion in Parliament.

Soren had to resign as chief minister in May.

Arjun Munda, who was a front runner for the post, was administered the oath by Governor M O H Farook at Raj Bhavan here on Saturday.

Neither BJP national president Nitin Gadkari, who was in favour of a BJP led government with the JMM again, nor party stalwart L.K. Advani was present at the ceremony amid reports earlier that Advani was not happy with the developments.

BJP Party spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad, however, rubbished the news of a rift in the party that was fuelled by the decision of L K Advani to skip the swearing-in ceremony.

Former BJP chief Rajnath Singh attended the function.