Sonia Gandhi unlikely to attend swearing-in ceremony of Hemant Soren, galaxy of Opp leaders confirm their presence

A galaxy of top opposition leaders will grace the swearing-in ceremony of JMM chief Hemant Soren as Jharkhand Chief Minister here on Sunday. However, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to attend the event as no confirmation has yet been received regarding her arrival.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Soren on Wednesday met Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and invited her for his oath-taking ceremony. However, her name is not in the list of the dignitaries who have confirmed their presence on the occasion, said JMM sources.

Among those who have confirmed their presence are Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former President Pranab Mukherjee, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other national and regional leaders from across the political spectrum.

Chief Ministers of as many as six states have also confirmed their presence. They are West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The other leaders who are likely to be present on the occasion include HD Kumaraswamy, KC Venugopal, N Chandrababu Naidu, Harish Rawat, DMK MP Kanimozhi, TR Balu, Sharad Yadav, and Ahmed Patel.

JMM fought the Assembly election in alliance with the Congress party and Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and got a comfortable majority with forty-seven seats in the 81-member house.

JMM won 30 seats, while Congress and RJD secured 16 and one seat respectively in the recently concluded Assembly polls.