Five-time BJP MLA, Raghubar Das on Sunday took oath as the first non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand, as the state which has seen nine governments in the last 14 years created history.
BJP and AJSU, having secured 37 and five seats respectively in the recently-conducted Assembly elections, have joined hands to form a stable government. The 81-member Assembly was until now notorious for its political instability.
The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Governor Syed Ahmed at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium. BJP members Chandreswar Prasad Singh, Nilkanth Singh Munda and Louis Marandi, in addition to AJSU's Chandraprakash Choudhary were sworn in as cabinet ministers. Including the CM, Jharkhand has a maximum limit of 12 ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to excuse his absence from the ceremony because of poor weather conditions. Modi, who was to attend the event with BJP chief Amit Shah, congratulated the people of Jharkhand for electing a stable government, reports Zee News.
Narendra Modi ✔ @narendramodi Was to travel to Jharkhand to attend the oath taking ceremony of Shri Raghubar Das but am unable to do so due to weather conditions.
I would like to congratulate Shri Raghubar Das on taking over as Jharkhand CM & convey my best wishes to him.
People of Jharkhand voted for stability. I congratulate them & pray that Jharkhand scales new heights of progress in the coming years.
Defence Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari from Modi's Cabinet were present at the ceremony. The event also witnessed the presence of Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
Das was congratulated by many politicos soon after taking oath.
