Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate soon after he quit the post on Wednesday evening following his hours-long interrogation in a land scam-related money laundering case.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led ruling coalition has proposed the name of Champai Soren, a close aide of Soren, as the next chief minister.
"The CM is in ED custody. He has gone to the Governor with the ED team to submit his resignation... Champai Soren will be the new chief minister... We have enough numbers…,” JMM MP Mahua Maji said.
Earlier, the JMM MLAs gathered at the CM’s residence in the evening and elected Champai Soren as the leader of the legislative party. Party spokesperson Vinod Pandey said a general consensus was reached on Champai Soren.
The Congress and the RJD are the other two parties of the ruling coalition.
The ED officials, who reached the CM’s residence at noon, questioned Soren for nearly seven hours, after which he went to Raj Bhawan and submitted his resignation to Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan.
"We have chosen Champai Soren as the leader of the Legislative Party. We came to the Raj Bhawan to request the Governor for the oath ceremony," JMM leader and state minister Banna Gupta told reporters.
A legislator from the Serikela assembly constituency for more than three decades since 1991, Champai Soren is known to be a loyalist of JMM supremo Shibu Soren.
"We have staked a claim to form the new government with the support of 47 MLAs," Champai Soren told reporters.
There were speculations that Soren's wife Kalpana's name could be proposed as the new chief minister. However, a rift emerged in his family with his sister-in-law and JMM MLA Sita Soren openly opposing any move to make his wife Kalpana the state chief minister, reported PTI.
According to ED officials, the agency is questioning Hemant Soren as part of its investigation into an alleged racket of illegal change of land ownership by the mafia.
The 48-year-old leader was previously questioned on January 20 in connection with the case.
On Monday, an ED team searched Hemant Soren's residence in Delhi, and camped there for almost 13 hours in order to question him in the case.
The agency claimed to have seized Rs 36 lakh, an SUV and some "incriminating" documents during the search.
