Former Deputy Chief Minister Stephan Marandi was sworn in as the Pro-tem Speaker of the fifth Jharkhand Assembly at Governor House in Ranchi on Tuesday. Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to the senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader in the presence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and Cabinet Ministers Rameshwar Oraon and Satyanand Bhokta.
Marandi, as the Pro-tem Speaker, will preside over the inaugural session of the fifth Assembly and finish. “The Assembly Speaker will be elected on January 7. My tenure as the Pro-tem Speaker will end on January 8,” he said.
Marandi, who was among the leaders close to Shibu Soren during the Jharkhand Movement, made his return to the JMM in 2014 after leaving the party in 2005. One of the stalwarts of the party, Marandi had contested elections as an independent against junior Soren in Dumka and defeated him after the party denied him ticket in 2005.
Despite the strong Modi wave in 2014, Marandi had won the elections from Maheshpur on a JMM ticket. In between 2005 and 2014, he joined Jharkhand’s first Chief Minister Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and also had a stint with the Congress party.
On Tuesday, the swearing in ceremony was held at Darbar Hall in Raj Bhawan, where the media was not allowed. The first Assembly session after the recently concluded elections will begin on January 6. The three-day session will be held at the old Vidhan Sabha building and Marandi will preside over the proceedings.
The session beginning on January 6 will also be the first ever Assembly session under a stable, non-BJP Government. Talking to a news channel, Hemant Soren on Tuesday said that he will focus on local issues and issues concerning the people at the grass root level.
Immediately after coming to power, the Soren Government took crucial decisions in its first Cabinet meeting on Sunday. The Government scrapped sedition charges leveled on Pathalgadi supporters by the former BJP-led Government and also withdrew cases that were filed against protestors during the anti-Santhal Pargana Tenancy and Chottanagpur Tenancy Amendment bill brought in by the Raghubar Das Government. The first Assembly session, too, is expected to see some major decisions, given the fact that the party is keen on fulfilling the promises it made in its election manifesto.
The oath taking ceremony of Hemant Soren also witnessed a never-seen-before unity of the opposition parties from across the country. Political gurus have predicted that Jharkhand may mark the beginning of a stronger and close-knit opposition in the upcoming elections. Soren’s swearing in ceremony was attended by political big guns such as former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee.