Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, caught under the Damocles’ sword of disqualification from the Assembly since end-August, on Monday won a morale-boosting victory in a test of majority in the House.

The JMM chief minister, whose government includes the Congress and other parties, launched a vitriolic attack on the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and governor Ramesh Bais before the confidence vote at a daylong special session.

Soren had sought the floor test as a show of political muscle at a time the governor has kept him guessing about his possible disqualification as MLA on corruption charges, and amid suspicion that the BJP is trying to buy off ruling alliance MLAs. He won comprehensively, with 48 MLAs in favour in a House of 81, well above the majority mark of 41.

There were zero votes against, with the BJP and its allies having walked out.The ruling coalition has 49 MLAs (JMM 30, Congress 18 and the Rashtriya Janata Dal 1). The BJP has 26 MLAs.Three Congress MLAs could not vote as they are in Calcutta as part of their bail conditions following their arrest in Bengal with large amounts of cash – a development that had prompted Soren to accuse the BJP of trying to topple his government through poaching. However, on Monday, the NCP and CPIML members voted for Soren.

Soren accused the BJP of creating a “civil war-like situation” in the country by fuelling riots to win elections. He alleged that his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma was involved in “buying Jharkhand MLAs” to bring his government down.“The BJP has been indulging in horse-trading of legislators in non-BJP-ruled states. Three of our MLAs are in Bengal — the onus of poaching lies on Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma,” he said.“This was the reason we went for a trust vote to show our strength. We are prepared to show them our strength even outside the Assembly.”