Setting the ball rolling for Hemant Soren to take over as the Jharkhand chief minister again, his close aide, Champai Soren, has resigned from the post just five months after taking oath. 

Champai Soren, who is seen as the number three in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, was sworn in on February 2, two days after then chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a land scam. He was released on bail on June 28 by the Jharkhand High Court which noted that there was reason to believe that he was “not guilty of the offence”.

After handing over his resignation to Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan on Wednesday evening, Champai Soren, who was earlier reported to be upset over being asked to leave the post, said in Hindi, “When the leadership had changed, I was given responsibility. You know the sequence of events. After Hemant Soren came back, we (the coalition) picked him as our leader and I have resigned. I am following the decision taken by the coalition.”

Asked when he would take oath, Hemant Soren, who was standing next to Champai Soren, said more details would be given later. 

Jharkhand is ruled by a coalition consisting of the JMM, Congress, RJD and the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.

“Insulted”

Earlier on Wednesday, the JMM had elected Hemant Soren as the legislature party leader, paving the way for him to take over as chief minister. The move defied a very strong buzz that Champai Soren would retain the post and Hemant Soren would return as chief minister only after the Jharkhand Assembly elections, due later this year, if the coalition won.

Sources had told NDTV that Champai Soren, who is likely to be named the JMM’s Executive President, was upset at being asked to resign as chief minister and had said at the party meeting that he was feeling insulted.

Leaders of the ruling coalition reached a consensus on Hemant Soren’s return during a meeting at Champai Soren’s residence. Among the attendees were Congress’ Jharkhand in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir, state president Rajesh Thakur and Hemant Soren’s wife and MLA Kalpana Soren.

Sources said the decision was taken to ensure that the elections were fought with Hemant Soren as the face of the party. JMM has 27 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly, the Congress has 18 and the RJD and the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation have one each.

The BJP, which has 24 MLAs, has hit out Hemant Soren and repeated its dynastic politics charge against his family. 

Ranchi:

Hemant Soren is set to take over as Jharkhand Chief Minister again after the alliance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and the RJD elected him leader, paving the way for his return to the top post.

Hemant Soren had stepped down as Chief Minister in January before he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. He was granted bail last week. The JMM leader has denied all charges. Granting him bail last week, the Jharkhand High Court said there is reason to believe that he is “not guilty of the offence as alleged”.

All is, however, not well. Champai Soren, who had taken over as Chief Minister after Hemant Soren stepped down, is not happy with the decision to replace him, sources have said. Champai Soren, it is learnt, may be named JMM’s executive president.

At the meeting of JMM’s legislature party, Champai Soren said he was feeling “insulted”, the sources said. The party, however, went ahead and named Hemant Soren its legislature party leader.

Champai Soren may submit his resignation to the Governor this evening, setting in motion the process for Hemant Soren to take over.

Leaders of the ruling coalition reached a consensus on Hemant Soren’s return during a meeting at Champai Soren’s residence today. The meeting was attended by Congress’ Jharkhand in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir, state president Rajesh Thakur and Hemant Soren’s wife and MLA Kalpana Soren.

Speculation regarding a change of guard were triggered after all important programmes of Chief Minister Champai Soren were cancelled today.

Elections in Jharkhand are months away and the JMM is looking at fighting the polls with Hemant Soren as its face. But the decision to replace Champai Soren will provide the Opposition BJP with ammunition in the run-up to the polls and strengthen its dynasty narrative.

Setting the tone for the BJP’s offensive, Nishikant Dubey, party MP from Jharkhand’s Godda, said in a social media post that the “Champai Soren era is over in Jharkhand”.

Targeting the JMM, he said, “In the family-oriented party, people outside the family have no political future. I wish the chief minister drew inspiration from Bhagwan Birsa Munda and stood up against the corrupt Hemant Soren ji.”

Champai Soren, 67, is a veteran leader of the JMM and has been with party founder and Hemant Soren’s father Shibu Soren for decades now. Earlier, he was a cabinet minister in the Hemant Soren government.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of the petition of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren seeking interim bail to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The Supreme Court said that Mr Soren’s interim bail petition should be taken up along with the petition declaring his arrest in a money laundering case as “illegal”, due for hearing on Monday.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was arrested in January by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He had moved the Supreme Court against the Jharkhand High Court order dismissing his application challenging his arrest by the ED and denied bail to him.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Mr Soren, told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that polling for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand will commence on May 13 and that the JMM leader should be allowed to campaign for his party.

“Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31. We moved the high court on February 4. The high court reserved the judgment on February 28 but did not deliver the judgment. The High Court kept the judgment pending for long,” Mr Sibal said.

“The first phase of election starts in the state on May 13 and so we moved this court under Article 32 of the Constitution, and notice was issued last week. After the notice was issued, the high court delivered the judgment rejecting his plea. Its very unfortunate that rights are being trampled in this fashion,” Mr Sibal had said.

Mr Soren was arrested on January 31 shortly after he resigned as the Jharkhand chief minister. He is currently lodged in judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

The central probe agency has alleged that “huge amounts of proceeds of crime” were generated by Mr Soren through manipulation of official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of forged/bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores of rupees.

Ranchi:

Two empty chairs – one each for jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren – were kept on stage as the INDIA bloc organised a mega rally in Ranchi on Sunday.

The ‘Ulgulan Nyay Mahrally’ was organised mainly by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and a large number of its workers wore Mr Soren’s masks.

Mr Soren was arrested on January 31 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud. The same central agency also arrested Mr Kejriwal on March 21 associated with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

Though chairs for the JMM executive president and AAP supremo were kept empty, their wives Kalpana Soren and Sunita Kejriwal were seated on the dais. They are apparently set for their larger political role following the arrest of their spouses.

INDIA परिवार ने अपने वरिष्ठ नेताओं के प्रति दिखाया सम्मान

Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal जी व Jharkhand के पूर्व CM @HemantSorenJMM जी के लिए मंच पर आरक्षित रखी कुर्सियां।#UlgulanNyayMahaRallypic.twitter.com/DCYGyDZaJ6

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) April 21, 2024

The crowd raised slogans like “Jail ka tala tutega, Hemant Soren chutega” (The jail lock will be broken, Hemant Soren will be released) and “Jharkhand Jhukega Nahi” (Jharkhand will not bow down).”

The workers assembled for the ‘Ulgulan Nyay Mahrally’ braving scorching heat as the Jharkhand capital’s temperature was hovering around 40 degrees Celcius.

Besides Kalpana and Sunita, JMM supremo Shibu Soren, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and others attended the rally in a mega show of strength for the opposition bloc.

A total of 28 political parties took part in the rally, which was held at the Prabhat Tara Ground.

The word ‘Ulugulan’, which means revolution, was coined during Birsa Munda’s fight against the British for the rights of the tribals.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ranchi:

The political split in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) first family is out in the open as party founder Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren switched to the BJP today, accusing the JMM leadership of neglecting her. This coincides with the other bahu in the family, Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana, emerging as the party’s voice as it gears up for the Lok Sabha polls.

On January 31, amid speculation that Hemant Soren could make way for wife Kalpana to take over as Chief Minister if the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved to arrest him, his sister-in-law and three-time MLA Sita had said Kalpana has “no political experience”.

Days later, Champai Soren, a trusted aide of the JMM first family, took over as Jharkhand Chief Minister. A month later, the party chose Kalpana Soren to address the mega INDIA rally in Mumbai that marked the end of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra this Sunday.

Sharing stage with heavyweight leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Uddhav Thackeray and Tejashwi Yadav, the 48-year-old delivered a confident speech, urging voters to rise against a “dictatorial power”. “In Maharashtra, people were bought to topple the government. But in Jharkhand, MLAs of the alliance showed that power that it cannot shake our government. A conspiracy was hatched to put my husband in jail. In the coming days, many other names will come up. I want to tell those dictatorial forces, INDIA will not bow down.”

She also thanked Rahul Gandhi for starting his yatra from Manipur. “He chose Manipur when it was burning. I am saying this as a tribal. At that time, there was no one to take note of Manipur. Even today, the Centre and the state government are silent.”

Kalpana Soren, who holds engineering and MBA degrees, had largely stayed away from political limelight before her husband Hemant Soren was arrested in a money laundering case. The former Jharkhand Chief Minister has denied the allegations against him and has accused the ruling BJP at the Centre of political vendetta.

In the days before Hemant Soren’s arrest, there was speculation that Kalpana Soren may take his place. But later, Champai Soren’s name emerged. The BJP had then claimed that a majority of JMM legislators were against Kalpana Soren’s elevation as Chief Minister.

Following his arrest, Kalpana Soren started managing Hemant Soren’s Twitter handle and articulating the party’s position in public meetings. The party, it is evident, wants to play the public sympathy card in the upcoming polls by making her the face of its campaign. The JMM is yet to name its candidates for Lok Sabha polls, and Kalpana Soren is being seen as a probable.

Meanwhile, Sita Soren has pulled the plug. Two days after her sister-in-law’s speech at the Mumbai rally, she quit as MLA, resigned from JMM and joined the BJP. In her resignation letter addressed to party chief and her father-in-law Shibu Soren, she mentioned that her husband and Hemant Soren’s elder brother, late Durga Soren, played an active role in the Jharkhand statehood movement.

She said since his death, she and her family had been neglected. “Members of the party and the family distanced us and this has been very painful,” she wrote, adding that JMM had changed and was now controlled by people whose values don’t match with hers. She also alleged a conspiracy against her. “I served the party for 14 years, but to date, I have not received the respect that I should have,” the three-time MLA from Jharkhand’s Jama said.

Speaking to NDTV after joining BJP, she said, “The party gave me no portfolio, but I walked along. But this cannot go on. And I believe lotus will bloom on all 14 seats of Jharkhand. Despite being loyal to the party, I could not work freely.” Asked if she had raised her concerns with the JMM leadership and Hemant Soren, she said, “I raised it multiple times, but he would only give assurances and do nothing.” Sita Soren termed Champai Soren, the new Chief Minister, a “rubber stamp”.

The JMM has termed the big exit as “unfortunate”. Party leader Manoj Pandey said Sita Soren was considered an important member of the party. “The kind of respect she has received from this party, I don’t think she will get anywhere else. If she comes under the influence of people opposing us, she will sabotage herself.”