Ranchi, July 18 (IANS): Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren Thursday moved a trust motion in the assembly.

The Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) government was formed July 13. Soren was asked by Governor Syed Ahmad to prove his majority within a week. Consequently, a special assembly session was convened Thursday.

Soren will need the support of at least 42 legislators in the 82-member assembly. He had handed a letter of support of 43 legislators to the governor to form the government.

Initiating the debate on the motion, former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arjun Munda came down on the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress alliance.

"This alliance has been formed for the benefit of the Congress. There is no hope that this government will do any thing for development of the state," he said.

Pradeep Yadav, legislative party leader of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P), alleged that his party's legislator Nizamuddin Ansari was missing since Wednesday.

He apprehended he might have been abducted ahead of the crucial trust vote.

The Hemant Soren-led government got some relief when party legislator Sita Soren, who was facing arrest in an abduction case, surrendered before police in Ranchi and was granted bail, paving the way for her to attend the assembly.

Another absconding party legislator, Nalin Soren, has moved the Supreme Court for bail.

According to a JMM legislator, the apex court asked Soren to surrender in Ranchi after which he will be allowed to participate in the debate on the trust vote.

Soren, a former agriculture minister, is one of nine accused in the 2007 seeds scam case in which irregularities were allegedly found in supply of seeds to farmers.

Legislators Sawna Lakra, serving a life term in a murder case, and Dullu Mahto, who is in jail in another case, attended the assembly with the permission of court.