Ranchi, 5 December (IANS). Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has tried to balance caste, social, religious and regional equations in the formation of his new cabinet. However, many people are raising questions about the least attention being given to the unreserved general category.
In the assembly elections, the result of the ruling alliance in Santhal Pargana was the best among the five divisions of the state. This alliance won 17 out of 18 seats in this division. Maximum four ministers have been made in the cabinet from this division. These include Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey Singh, Godda MLA Sanjay Prasad Yadav, Madhupur MLA Hafizul Hasan and Jamtara MLA Irfan Ansari. No Scheduled Tribe MLA from this division has got a place in the cabinet. However, Chief Minister Hemant Soren himself represents Barhet seat of this division. If we add them together, a total of five ministers out of 12 are from this division.
Two ministers have been made from Kolhan division. These include Chaibasa MLA Deepak Birua and Ghatshila MLA Ramdas Soren. Both were part of Hemant Soren’s cabinet earlier also. Two MLAs from North Chotanagpur division, Sudivya Kumar Sonu of Giridih and Yogendra Prasad of Gomia have got a place in the cabinet. There are maximum 25 assembly seats in this division. The highest number of general seats is in this division, where OBC castes have significant influence politically. Keeping this in mind, both the MLAs who have been made ministers from this division come from OBC community. While Sudivya Sonu belongs to the Vaishya community, Yogendra Prasad comes from the Kudmi (Kurmi) caste.
Two MLAs from South Chhotanagpur division, Chamra Linda and Shilpi Neha Tirkey, have also been made ministers. Chamra Linda Sarna is a tribal, while Shilpi Neha Tirkey is a Christian tribal. There is a mixed population of both types of tribals in this division. An attempt has been made to strike a balance by making one MLA each from both the communities a minister.
Out of nine seats in Palamu division, the ruling alliance has won five seats this time. Only one MLA from here, Radhakrishna Kishore, has been given a place in the cabinet. He is also the only representative of Scheduled Caste in the cabinet. In the elections, the ruling coalition won 27 out of 28 tribal reserved seats and on this basis, the Scheduled Tribes (Tribals) have the highest representation. Including the CM, the total number of ministers from these tribes is five.
There are a total of three ministers from the OBC community – Sanjay Prasad Yadav, Yogendra Prasad and Sudivya Sonu. Deepika Pandey Singh is being considered as the representative of both OBC and general classes in the cabinet. Deepika herself comes from Brahmin community, but her husband is from Kudmi community. Two ministers, Irfan Ansari and Hafizul Hasan, come from the minority community. Both Santhals are from Pargana division, where after tribals, Muslims have the largest population.
–IANS
SNC/ABM
