Edited by Deepali Verma
Champai Soren, in no relation to the Hemant Soren family, emerged as top choice to take over the Chief Minister’s chair in Jharkhand as Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection to an alleged land scam.
The 67-year-old’s name was worked out at a meeting held at Hemant Soren’s official residence. Sources have revealed that the MLAs also signed on letters of support.
Kalpana Soren, Hemant Soren’s wife, who was widely considered as an option to replace her husband as Chief Minister had the backing of alliance partners but faced opposition from within the family. Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren as well as brother Basant Soren are already active in politics besides the senior figure Shibu Soren, who is the founder of the JMM.
Basant Soren and Sita Soren are sitting MLAs as well as a part of the ruling alliance. However, they are not ministers. Sources have cited that both could have made a claim for the position had Kalpana Soren’s name been sent to the Governor.
Hemant Soren met his father Shibu Soren on the morning of January 31 but there was no consensus on Kalpana Soren within the family itself, as per the sources. It was always a tricky matter for Hemant Soren to convince his sister-in-law and brother to agree to Kalpana Soren’s name, said the sources.
Sita Soren, a three-time JMM MLA, heavily opposed the candidacy of Kalpana Soren as sees herself as “the natural heir of Shibu and Durga Soren’s legacy”.
The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has a total of 46 seats with JMM having 28, Congress-16, RJD-1 and CPI(ML) Liberation – 1. The Jharkhand assembly has a total of 80 seats and the majority mark stands at 41.
According to the sources, Sita Soren, the elder bahu of the family, was opposed to Kalpana Soren’s bid which was proposed by Hemant Soren. Over the course of this family tussle, Champai Soren emerged as a consensus candidate, sources added.
Champai Soren had actively participated in the Jharkhand movement in the late 90s, side-by-side with Shibu Soren. He was the Transport Minister in the Hemant Soren government. He is a senior JMM leader and close to Hemant Soren as well. He also has the backing of the Soren family.
