Earlier on Monday, Soren, accompanied by Lalu, Koda and Marandi, met Governor Syed Sibtey Razi and staked claim to form the Government. Razi then invited Soren to form a government and prove his majority in the Assembly on or before September 1.

In his letter of invitation to Soren, Governor Razi said he had taken this decision after scrutinising the claims incorporated in the list handed over to him by the chief ministerial candidate. Soren handed over a list of 42 MLAs (Congress 9, RJD 7,JMM 17, Forward Bloc 2, Nationalist Congress Party 1 and Independent 9) who had committed to support him.

Six Independents—Enos Ekka, Bandhu Tirkey, Joba Manjhi, Kamlesh Singh, Harinarain Rai and Bhanu Pratap Choudhary—turned around after the Union Railway Minister telephonically contacted each of them and Soren met Shahi at his official residence on Sunday evening.

In turn, Shahi on behalf of six other Independents, minus Marandi and Koda, set 12 demands including panchayat polls in non-scheduled areas of the state, transfer of forest land to forest dwellers as per the Forest Act and the identification and rehabilitation of Jharkhand agitationists. Once Soren gave his verbal promise to fulfil these demands, they announced support to him on Sunday night.

On Lalu's arrival here on Monday, Marandi and Koda, who had been reiterating that they would not support Soren, held a closed door meeting with him inside the CM’s residence. Soon, they came out announcing support to Soren. Subsequently, Marandi and Koda flashed before the media their letters extending support to Soren.

The political circles here feel Lalu, who had always supported Koda against Soren, deemed it fit to bat for the latter in his bid to retain his image of kingmaker. In any case, both the Congress and the RJD are going to retain their status in the Soren Government as well. Moreover, the Soren Government is set to retain the Independents as ministers, with the exception of Chandra Prakash Choudhary, who has decided to side with the NDA.

But Koda is expected to be the chairperson of the UPA’s steering committee, the post Soren held when Koda was the CM. Asked what made him change gear, Koda said: “Laluji and Guruji came to my residence. I gave it a second thought and decided to support him in the larger interest of UPA unity.” Asked if he, like the Independents, had set any conditions for his support, he said, “During the meeting I aired my wish to continue the unfinished development works taken during my tenure".