NEW DELHI, March 2: Indian opposition groups stalled parliament for the second consecutive day on Wednesday after a cabinet colleague of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was controversially sworn in as the new chief minister of the tribal state of Jharkhand, which returned a hung assembly after recent state polls.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren resigned as India's coal minister on Wednesday and was promptly sworn in as the new chief minister of the politically volatile state.

In doing so he wrested power from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which bagged 36 seats in the new assembly together with its allies. Mr Soren and his allies got 26 seats in the new assembly, thus putting both contenders short of the required 41 seats.

In inviting Mr Soren to take the oath, state governor Sibte Razi was apparently indicating that he believed the Soren group had acquired the majority support in the 81-member assembly.

The governor has asked Mr Soren to prove the majority of his government by March 21. In neighbouring Bihar, the boot was on the other foot. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's ruling party in the state has emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats against the BJP's 37 and 55 of Janata Dal (U), a BJP ally.

Mr Yadav now claims he has the support of several independent deputies and of his arch rival and cabinet colleague, Ram Vilas Paswan. The BJP stalled parliament and wrote an angry letter to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

"To our utter shock, and to the shock of all the democracy-loving people in India, the governor has invited Shri Shibu Soren, leader of the JMM, to form the next government in Jharkhand," the BJP said in its letter to the president.

"Indeed, even as you are reading this memorandum, your nominee in the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi is all set to commit the illegality of swearing in Shri Soren as the chief minister. "By doing so, the governor is trampling upon all the canons and conventions of parliamentary democracy."