Dense fog in Delhi kept Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as BJP president Amit Shah away from the historic swearing-in of Jharkhand's first non-tribal chief minister Raghubar Das, who took the oath of office along with four ministers on Sunday . Das, 59, heads the majority coalition with All Jharkhand Students' Union party , and the new CM promptly announced his government's `Swachh Jharkhand' agenda.
Apart from Das, Governor Syed Ahmad administered the oath of office to five time MLA and former speaker Chandreswar Prasad Singh, Dumka MLA Louis Marandi who defeated JMM's ex-CM Hemant Soren, and Khunti MLA Neelkanth Singh Munda at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium. “ As part of the Prime Minister's `Swachh Abhiyan', the new government would work towards `Swachh Jharkhand',“ said Das, wearing a crimson `bandi' over white kurta. Within hours of his swearing-in, he was seen with a broom cleaning the streets of Karamtoli, a tribal-dominated colony in the state capital.
Although Modi couldn't make it to the event, Union ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Ram Kripal Yadav , Radha Mohan Singh and two MoS from Jharkhand, Sudarshan Bhagat and Jayant Sinha, were present. Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh CMs Raman Singh and Devendra Fadnavis were among BJP heavyweights at the event. The PM congratulated Das on Twitter.
Former minister and three time MLA from Ramgarh Chandra Prakash Choudhary was the only AJSU legislator to be sworn in as the fifth minister in the Cabinet. Marandi and Munda are the two tribal faces in the cabinet. The strength of the cabinet in Jharkhand with 81 MLAs should be 12. Das is likely to expand Cabinet after convening the first assembly session on January 1.
Security was tight given the 48-hour bandh called by over 20 tribal organizations in protest against BJP's decision to name a non-tribal CM. But barring a few roadblocks, the second day of the bandh received tepid response. There were some rallies on the outskirts of Ranchi and in Hazaribag that got indifferent response.
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