Senior Bharatiya Janata Party member of Legislative Assembly Karia Munda was on Sunday sworn in as the pro-tem speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly.
Governor Syed Sibtey Razi administered the oath to Munda just a day before the trial of strength in the assembly of the National Democratic Alliance cabinet on Monday.
Chief Minister Arjun Munda and Janata Dal (United) state unit president Inder Singh Namdhari attended the ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi.
Earlier pro-tem speaker Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu quit the post on Saturday after the Shibu Soren-led United Progressive Alliance government resigned.
Talking to reporters after the ceremony, Arjun Munda hoped that Namdhari, the NDA nominee for the speaker's post, would be unanimously elected to the chair by the House on March 15.
"We want both the government side and the opposition side to vote unanimously for our nominee to the speaker's post," Munda said.
Asked about the absence of Nationalist Congress Party MLA Kamlesh Kumar Singh during the swearing-in ceremony of his council of ministers on Saturday, Munda said, "Singh is presently hospitalised with a heart ailment."
Singh, who is the lone NCP MLA in the state, had earlier taken oath as a minister in the Shibu Soren government.
On the selection of an Anglo-Indian nominee to the Assembly, Munda said it would be done after his ministry took the vote of confidence.
The first cabinet meeting of the Munda government on Saturday night decided not to nominate Alfred George de Rozario as the Anglo-Indian nominee. The UPA government had nominated Rozario.
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