Hemant Soren took oath as the chief minister of Jharkhand for the fourth term in the presence of the top INDIA block leaders in Ranchi on Thursday.

Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Hemant Soren.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav were present among other top INDIA bloc leaders.

“Today’s historic day is dedicated to the struggle of the immortal brave martyrs, great revolutionaries and agitators of Jharkhand,” the chief minister said on X. He also dedicated this day to the crores of people of Jharkhand. “Abua Sarkar–Government of every Jharkhandi.”

Speaking to reporters after the oath ceremony, Governor Santosh Gangwar extended his wishes to the new government. “I believe that this state will make a good place for itself in the country and make good progress and development,” he said.

In the recently concluded state Assembly elections, the JMM-led coalition secured 56 out of 81 seats. The party, led by Hemant Soren, contested 41 seats and won 34, while the Congress gained 16 of the 30 seats it contested. The RJD and CPIML claimed six and four seats, respectively.

“It is a great day for Jharkhand. People have shown a lot of confidence. I am sure that the entire alliance will do d very good job. It is a big lesson because they tried to harass him. Harassing leaders will not help. So, this is also one of the examples after Karnataka,” Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar told reporters after attending the oath ceremony here.

Hemant Soren, 49, began his political journey with a brief tenure in the Rajya Sabha before becoming an MLA in 2009. He served as deputy chief minister from 2010 to 2013 when the JMM was allied with the BJP under the then chief minister Arjun Munda.

In 2013, Soren became chief minister following the JMM’s alliance with the Congress and RJD. After the BJP won the 2014 state election, Soren assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition in the assembly. The JMM-Congress coalition triumphed in the 2019 Assembly election, leading to Soren’s second term as chief minister.

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah after an explosion was reported near PVR in Delhi’s Prashant Vihar. This was the second blast reported in the same area over a month.

Kejriwal, the former Delhi chief minister, said the public was already living in fear due to deteriorating law and order and increasing crime like murder, extortion and robbery, and “now an explosion has taken place in the national capital”.

The AAP convener said everyone has the right to live comfortably and safely in Delhi. “Home Minister Amit Shah ji, please wake up from sleep and fulfill your responsibility,” he said in a post on X.

According to reports, an explosion was reported from Prashant Vihar of Delhi’s Rohini on Thursday morning. The incident took place near the boundary wall of a park.

After the explosion, Delhi Police rushed to the spot and started an investigation into a white powder that was found scattered in the area.

The Delhi Fire Service received a call about an explosion in Prashant Vihar at 11:48 AM on Thursday. Fire engines were quickly dispatched to the scene, and teams from the Delhi Police Crime Branch, Special Cell, and Bomb Disposal Squad arrived shortly afterward.

NSG Commandos, a dog squad arrived at the spot of the explosion in the Prashant Vihar area. The driver of a three-wheeler, which was parked nearby, sustained minor injuries, police said. The entire area has been cordoned off, as per the reports.

A month earlier, a blast occurred near a CRPF school in the Prashant Vihar area of Delhi’s Rohini, with no reported injuries. The authorities confirmed that the incident damaged the school wall, nearby shops, and a car.

At 7:50 am, Delhi Fire Services received a call about a blast near the boundary wall of the CRPF school. They immediately dispatched two fire engines to the location. Fortunately, there was no fire, and no injuries were reported, prompting the vehicles to return.

Opposition members abruptly walked out of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting discussing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday, claiming that the proceedings had become a mockery.

However, they returned after about an hour, amidst indications that the committee chairperson would seek an extension for the committee’s term.

According to reports, the committee’s tenure might be extended until the first week of the Budget Session, although the final decision will be made by the Lok Sabha.

The reports further suggested that Opposition leaders left the meeting midway citing that the chairman had announced to table the draft of Waqf (Amendment) report of JPC on November 29 which all Opposition parties have boycotted. They demanded an extension of the JPC.

Earlier, Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi, DMK’s A Raja, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, and TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee protested against the conduct of committee chairperson Jagdambika Pal, accusing him of wanting to conclude the proceedings by the November 29 deadline without adhering to the necessary processes.

Gogoi noted that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had suggested the possibility of an extension for the committee, but it seemed that a “big minister” was influencing Pal’s actions.

“It is a mockery.” Meanwhile, YSR Congress MP V. Vijaysai Reddy stated that all parties not aligned with the BJP were in favor of an extension, but Pal insisted on completing the work to ensure the report could be presented in the Lok Sabha by November 29,” the TMC MP said.

Sanjay Singh, one of the JPC members, said: “Until the report is finalised, all the stakeholders are heard and the JPC tour is completed. I think submitting a draft report before that is wrong. The speaker had assured us that he would extend the time of the JPC. Sidelining all these things you are saying that the draft report is ready to submit. You haven’t heard Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh government.”