The Jharkhand governor invited JMM leader Champai Soren late on Thursday night to take oath as chief minister on Friday, after the long wait prompted the ruling alliance to question Raj Bhavan's intentions and make an abortive bid to shift its MLAs to Hyderabad.

Earlier in the evening, governor C.P. Radhakrishnan had said he would seek legal opinion before deciding on Champai's claim, staked on Wednesday night hours after JMM leader Hemant Soren’s resignation as chief minister.

MLAs of the JMM-led ruling alliance had in the evening underlined that Champai had met the governor with proof of majority and questioned Radhakrishnan’s intention, saying they had decided to shift to Congress-ruled Telangana to prevent “poaching” by the BJP.

All 47 MLAs of the ruling alliance (apart from Hemant and an ailing legislator) had made it to Ranchi airport late in the evening to catch a flight to Hyderabad but poor visibility prevented takeoff. They said at the time they would fly out on Friday morning.

PTI later reported that the governor had nominated Champai as chief minister.

Champai and four other MLAs from allied parties — Alamgir Alam (Congress), Satyanand Bhokta (RJD), Binod Singh (CPIML) and Pradeep Yadav (JVM) — had arrived at the Raj Bhavan for a 5.30pm meeting from the Ranchi Circuit House.

“The governor listened to our claim and assured us he would call us soon after taking legal opinion on our claim,” Champai told reporters after stepping out of the Raj Bhavan.

Alam, the Congress MLA, told The Telegraph the delegation had reminded the governor how, in neighbouring Bihar, the chief ministerial aspirant (Nitish Kumar) was allowed to form a new government within hours of resigning.

“We urged the governor to take a decision soon as any delay would raise apprehensions among the people and political parties about possible horse-trading,” Alam said.

In the evening, the JMM released a video showing 43 MLAs of the ruling coalition at the Circuit House. Only four MLAs of the ruling JMM — Lobin Hembram, Sita Soren, Chamra Linda and Ramdas Soren — were absent. Champai said all four had extended support to him as leader of the new government.

Later, JMM sources said that plans were being made to shift the ruling coalition MLAs to a Congress-ruled state, preferably Karnataka or Telangana, in a chartered plane. Later, the alliance zeroed in on Telangana capital Hyderabad.

In the 81-member Assembly, the JMM has 30 MLAs, the Congress 16, the JVM and the RJD have 1 each while the lone CPIML member supports the government. Of the 49, Hemant is in custody while JMM Ghatshila MLA Ramdas Soren is in Delhi for the treatment of kidney ailments.

The Opposition BJP has 26 MLAs while allies AJSU and NCP have 2 and 1, respectively. There are three Independents.

Following Hemant’s pre-arrest resignation at 9pm on Wednesday, Champai had been “unanimously” elected JMM legislature party leader and had written to the governor showing the support of 43 MLAs and staking claim to form the government. The majority mark is 41.

But the governor kept him waiting for more than 16 hours before giving him an appointment for 5.30pm on Thursday, while fixing the size of the delegation to five MLAs.

Around noon on Thursday, Champai again wrote to the governor seeking to meet him with all the ruling alliance’s 47 MLAs around 3pm to show he had a substantial majority and could form a “stable” government.

“We handed over a letter of support from 43 MLAs to the governor yesterday. Now we have the support of 47 legislators,” Champai told reporters before the Raj Bhavan meeting.

“We have been waiting for 15-16 hours whereas oaths are administered within two hours of staking claim in other states (Bihar).”

Shilpi Neha Tirkey, Congress MLA from Mandar, questioned the governor’s intentions.

“We have an absolute majority and are still being made to wait. In case the governor delays inviting us, we might be shifted to a Congress-ruled state,” she said.

Bandh off

The umbrella tribal outfit, Adivasi Moolvasi Sangh, on Thursday morning withdrew its call for a daylong Jharkhand shutdown, announced in protest against Hemant’s arrest.

“We don’t want to do anything that would give the BJP and the governor a chance to impose President’s rule, and therefore withdrew the call,” said Ajay Tirkey, president of the Kendriya Sarna Samity, a constituent of the Sangh.

JMM central general secretary Vinod Pandey had on Wednesday issued a statement saying the party had nothing to do with the bandh call given by tribal outfits.

On Thursday afternoon, the ED produced Hemant before a special court, set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The court allowed one day’s judicial custody for the former chief minister; the ED’s plea for 10-day remand will be heard on Friday.

Hemant has in a video, said to be filmed immediately before his arrest and released to the media by his aides on Thursday morning, said the time has come to wage a war against a feudal system that oppresses the poor, tribal people and Dalits. He has claimed his arrest was planned.

He has proclaimed his innocence in the money-laundering case against him and said he would not be cowed.

As the wait for a new government lengthened in the evening, there was no clarity on who was in charge in the state, with Raj Bhavan sources unavailable for comment.

A senior faculty member at the Hidayatullah National Law University in Raipur said that with the resignation of Hemant — arrested by the Enforcement Directorate over a land deal — all the other ministers too would be understood to have resigned. He said the state administration would now have to report to the governor.