Hemant Soren is set to return as Jharkhand Chief Minister with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM’s) legislature party choosing him as its leader on Wednesday. After incumbent CM Champai Soren met the Governor Wednesday evening and tendered his resignation, Hemant submitted a request to form the government.
The Governor will now decide on a date for the swearing-in of Hemant and his ministers. The JMM leader had resigned as CM five months ago, ahead of his arrest over money laundering allegations, after which Champai had taken over.
* What message does the JMM hope to send with Hemant’s return as CM?
The party has got a shot in the arm from the regular bail to Hemant in the money laundering case, with the Jharkhand High Court noting in its order that “there exist reasons to believe that he is not guilty”. Party insiders admitted that they too were taken by surprise at the court move.
Going forward, the JMM led by Hemant is set to go to the public with the message that he was kept in jail for five months in a “false” case led by an agency controlled by the Centre, “forcing” him to leave the post of CM. With elections due at the end of the year, this is the best-case scenario for the JMM, which is anyway on the upswing after its Lok Sabha poll performance.
Hemant is expected to push through the remaining promises made by him while in government, ahead of the elections.
Sources close to Hemant also suggested that while he was “not keen” to take over so soon after coming out on bail, there was alarm over allegations regarding some aspects of the Champai administration.
* Did Champai go out willingly?
No. Sources said Champai pushed back, pointing out that elections were due in two months and the bid to remove him from the post “would not look good”. He also argued that while he was also a “mass leader” in his own right, Hemant was out only on bail, and there could be attempts to destabilise his government again.
A source present at the meeting of the JMM and its coalition partners said: “Champai ji said it was a matter of only two months before the elections, and what was the need for such a hurry. He said he considered Hemant and (his wife and MLA) Kalpana as his son and daughter.”
However, all the members of the coalition government, including those of the Congress and RJD, backed Hemant at the meeting, leaving Champai with few options. One of the Congress MLAs present is reported to have said that the 2019 win of the coalition had been a vote for Hemant, and that it would serve them well to fight again under his leadership.
Leaders also underlined that it was important that the coalition government portray a “unified command”, and leave no possibility of doubts among the public as to who is leading the JMM.
Congress leader Pradeep Yadav then had a 45-minute-long conversation with Champai. Following it, the latter announced he would step down as CM.
* Where does this leave Champai?
He may be accommodated in the new Hemant government, but sources admitted the party will tread carefully and watch closely his next moves. It is also not clear whether Champai will agree to take up a ministerial post, after stepping down as CM. Champai was the Minister for SC, ST, Backward Welfare Department along with Transport when Hemant was the CM earlier.
Champai’s five-month tenure as CM was pretty smooth, with the JMM leader careful to signal in so many words that he was a “Hemant-Part II’. After Kalpana took on a public role following Hemant’s arrest, Champai also rallied behind her, careful not to leave scope for any tensions.
However, as it became clear Tuesday that he would be eased out as CM, Champai found it difficult to hide his disappointment. Sources said he mentioned to people close to Hemant that he had not even asked Kalpana to move out of the CM house.
The JMM would be wary of an angry Champai as he commands considerable support in the Kolhan region, which accounts for 14 Assembly seats. Sources close to Hemant, however, point out that they have alternatives in the region now, with Deepak Birua, the JMM MLA from Chaibasa (in Kolhan region), holding the Welfare and Transport Department, and another leader, Jobha Manjhi, a former minister-turned-MP from Singhbhum.
* How has the opposition BJP reacted to the development?
State BJP chief Babulal Marandi said the decision by the JMM showed that tribal leaders outside the Shibu Soren family were only “kaam chalau (make do leaders)” for the party. He said the Soren family used and discarded them, like “a fly in milk”, and that the JMM’s tribal leaders should take heed from this. “They should understand their limits. They should understand that they are only meant to be the palanquin of the Shibu Soren family,” Marandi, the BJP’s foremost tribal face in the state, said.
That the BJP hopes to make this line of attack stick was clear from similar statements by its senior leaders. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP Jharkhand co-incharge, posted on X: “The removal of a senior tribal leader from the post of Chief Minister in Jharkhand by the JMM and Congress party is deeply distressing.”
The results of the recent Lok Sabha elections showed that the tribal vote may have swung towards the JMM over Hemant’s arrest. The BJP was not able to win even one of the five ST-reserved seats in the state. In the Assembly elections, where 28 of the 81 seats are reserved for tribals, the ST vote will be crucial.
Aisha Patel is a dedicated Indian correspondent with a deep understanding of the nation’s diverse affairs. With a background in Indian culture, politics, and current events, she provides in-depth analysis and timely reporting on domestic issues within India.
