Hemant & Kalpana to enter House as lawmaker couple

Ranchi: Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha’s monsoon session, which is expected to be convened later this month, will witness a history of sorts as Hemant Soren and Kalpana Murmu Soren would become the first and only married couple to be members of the House during the same time, so far.Former CM Hemant, who missed the bulk of the budget session earlier this year for being in jail, will attend the monsoon session as a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) lawmaker. Kalpana, his wife, will enter the Vidhan Sabha for the first time as a MLA in the upcoming session after winning the byelection to Gandey assembly segment last month. At present, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and wife Dimple have both been elected to 18th Lok Sabha. Though Jama MLA Sita Soren resigned from office after switching over to BJP before Lok Sabha elections, the ongoing fifth Vidhan Sabha will continue to witness three members from the family of Shibu Soren as members of the House. Basant Soren, a first-time MLA from Dumka, will now sit in the treasury benches by virtue of being the minister for road development and building construction in the cabinet of Champai Soren. Hemant and Kalpana have been making public appearances together ever since the former CM was granted bail by Jharkhand high court after spending five months in jail. Kalpana on Sunday posted photographs of herself and Hemant enjoying local snacks on their return flight to Ranchi from Bhognadih in Sahibganj district after paying tribute to tribal revolutionaries Siddho and Kanhu Murmu on Hul Diwas. With the INDIA alliance yet to appoint a minister for parliamentary affairs following the arrest of Alamgir Alam in May, confusion remains about the timing of the session, which would be the last before elections later this year. However, Vidhan Sabha secretariat sources said the govt could call the session in the last week of July or the first week of August. The upcoming session will also have a reduced strength of lawmakers. “The resignations of four MLAs following their Lok Sabha victories have been accepted. Notices have been served to BJP’s Mandu MLA Jaiprakash Bhai Patel and JMM MLA Lobin Hembrom under anti-defection laws,” speaker Rabindranath Mahto said. JMM MLAs Joba Majhi and Nalin Soren resigned along with their BJP counterparts Dulu Mahto and Manish Jaiswal after winning Lok Sabha elections. JMM MLA Sita Soren’s resignation, which was sent by her before she joined the BJP was accepted by Mahto last month.
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