The Delhi Chalo agitation kickstarted today where the newly formed Champai Soren government appears to be in trouble. 

As many as 12 of a total of 17 Congress MLAs are unhappy with the Champai government over the cabinet expansion that took place on Friday. 

These Congress MLAs are skipping the Jharkhand assembly session and have left for Delhi on Saturday. 

They are demanding that Congress should get one more ministerial post and all the old ministers from the Congress quota should be replaced. 

A group of Congress MLAs met its Jharkhand party chief Rajesh Thakur and lodged their protest against the “repetition of ministers from the party’s quota” in the new cabinet. 

The 'rebel' MLAs include Deepika Pandey Singh, Irfan Ansari, Anup Singh, Ram Chandra Singh, Bhushan Bara, Shinku, Akela Yadav, Amba Prasad, Purnima Neerja Singh, Neha Tirkey, Rajesh Kashyap and Viksal Kongadi. 

Four Congress leaders — Alamgir Alam, Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta, and Badal Patralekh, who were a part of the previous Hemant Soren cabinet — were included in the Champai Soren cabinet, too. 

All is not well within the ruling JMM too. Its MLA Baidyanath Ram, who was dropped from the list of ministers at the eleventh hour has threatened to say he would not tolerate "this insult” and contest as an independent candidate in the upcoming assembly polls if required.

“Everything was finalized and my name was featured in the ministers’ list. But, at the last moment, my name was dropped. It is an insult. I will not tolerate it,” PTI quotes Ram as saying. “Under pressure from the central leadership of Congress, my name was removed,” he alleged.  

Ram also claimed that Chief Minister Champai Soren had assured him that he would resolve the matter within two days. “I may contest the assembly polls as an independent candidate if need be,” he added.  

Even the daughter-in-law of JMM supremo Shibu Soren and sister-in-law of ex-CM Hemant Soren, Sita Soren, who failed to become Minister, was critical of the Soren family chief. 

Since her brother-in-law Basant Soren was inducted in the Cabinet she told media persons that “ female is discriminated as male in the family is given the upper hand.” 

Basant Soren, JMM supremo Shibu Soren’s youngest son, JMM's Chaibasa MLA Deepak Birua and others took oath as ministers in Jharkhand’s Champai Soren-led government on Friday. 

Earlier this month, 67-year-old Champai Soren was sworn in as the 12th chief minister of the state, while senior Congress leader Alamgir Alam and RJD leader Satyanand Bhokta took oath as ministers. 

JMM executive president Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31, shortly after he resigned as the chief minister.