The MLAs of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led coalition could not fly out of Ranchi on Thursday owing to bad weather. They waited for a day as Champai Soren took the oath as the chief minister on Friday and then flew to Hyderabad. On Friday evening, the MLAs reached Hyderabad, the capital of the Congress-ruled Telangana -- being considered a haven for the MLAs now. A senior coalition leader said though Champai Soren has taken the oath as the chief minister, he will have to prove majority in the floor test. "We can’t take any chance during the period as the BJP might try to contact our MLAs,” the senior leader said as quoted by news agency PTI.
Champai Soren became the chief minister of Jharkhand as he took oath on Friday, two days after Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in a land scam.
Apart from Champai Soren, Congress' Alamgir Alam and RJD's Satyanand Bhokta also took oath on Friday.
The JMM-led alliance will face the floor test on February 5.
The MLAs were supposed to fly out of Ranchi on Thursday. But the flight was rescheduled owing to bad weather. The BJP questioned why the alliance was being paranoid while Champai Soren already took the oath.
The alliance has claimed the support of 43 members while the majority mark is 41. In the 81-member Assembly, JMM has 29 MLAs, Congress 17, RJD and the CPI(ML) one seat each. On the other hand, the BJP has 26 seats, ASJU 3 and Independents and others have 3 MLAs.
Hemant Soren was on Friday remanded to five days' Enforcement Directorate custody by a special PMLA court. Hemant Soren moved the Supreme Court against his arrest but the top court said it wouldn't interfere and asked him to go to the Jharkhand high court.
Advocate general Rajeev Ranjan Singh who appeared for Hemant Soren appealed that the former chief minister should be allowed to stay in jail as there are security concerns.
As around 40 MLAs arrived at Begumpet airport on two flights, AICC Telangana in-charge Deepa Das Munshi and state transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar received the MLAs. two flights,
They are likely to be accommodated in Leonia Resort on the outskirts of Hyderabad but their destination is not yet known. According to some reports, 70 rooms have been booked for them
The MLAS will stay at the resort for the weekend and will fly back to Ranchi only before the floor test.
(With inputs from agencies)