Soren takes oath,BJP top brass,Nitish stay away

This was the third time that Soren took oath as the state chief minister

and both Das and Mahato were ministers in Arjun Munda-led NDA government in 2005.

Post-ceremony,Soren,Das and Mahato held their first Cabinet meeting. They arrived at six main decisions: a four-day session of the Assembly will begin on January 4 when the newly-elected MLAs will take oath; Tek Lal Mahato of the JMM will be the protem Speaker; as Governor K Sankaranarayanan has asked them to prove majority on or before January 8,the floor test will take place on January 7; the new government will carry out a survey of the BPL families to distribute ration cards; the state government will have a 100-day agenda for every department; it will increase the sum of Rs 400 paid as old age pension under the social security scheme and make available rice/wheat and iodised salt at Re 1 and 25 paise per kg respectively to every BPL card-holder.

Soren said the new government’s top priority will be all round development of the state and jobs for youths. “The government machinery will be geared up to ensure proper implementation of welfare,agriculture,irrigation and industrial projects,” he said. Asked about the 70 investment proposals worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore that are pending due to the failure of the state government to provide them with land,Soren said: “The government will make efforts to resolve the problem.” On Naxal violence he said: “We have to initiate dialogue to bring them back to mainstream. Gun against gun may not make any sense.”