The suspense is finally over. After weeks of speculation over Champai Soren being disgruntled with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and a few visits made by him to the national capital citing personal reasons, the former chief minister is all set to join the BJP on August 30 at the party headquarters in Ranchi.
Taking to X late on Monday night, Assam Chief Minister and BJP’s Jharkhand co-incharge Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a picture of Champai Soren with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence before announcing the veteran leader’s official entry into the saffron party.
Sources told News18 that Champai Soren has chosen to cross over to the BJP without any conditions. “He will be a big boost to our party because he is a well-known tribal leader, and that could be crucial for us in the upcoming Jharkhand elections,” the source said.
They added that as of now, only Champai Soren and his son will join BJP. “Anyone else joining along with them, including MLAs in his support, will be a call taken later,” the source said, adding that BJP does not want to be seen as a party that is overtly encouraging people to join its ranks just ahead of elections for a ticket or post.
The 67-year-old, often known as ‘Tiger’ in the Jharkhand political circuit, is expected to bring about a significant change in the fortunes of the saffron party which has seen a major fall in tribal votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. After the arrest of Hemant Soren, the sympathy of the tribals moved to JMM, leading to the BJP losing important seats like that of former Union minister Arjun Munda.
Welcoming Champai Soren into the party fold, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Nishikant Dubey, who has constantly had a run-in with the Hemant Soren family, said the move would be the end of JMM which started as a movement for a separate state but eventually “landed up in the hands of power brokers”.
Champai Soren, one of the senior-most leaders in the JMM, was sworn in as the chief minister of Jharkhand in February this year after the sitting chief minister, Hemant Soren, was arrested by ED. Champai Soren was made to step down in July once Hemant Soren was out of jail and was reinstated to the post of the chief minister.
Over the last week to 10 days, Champai Soren had dropped multiple hints on social media about his intent to find his political feet again in another party. He, in fact, went on to say that taking retirement from politics was not an option given the fact that he fought for the cause of the people for more than four decades of his political life.
On August 18, he took to social media to recollect his political journey, his association with party founder Shibu Soren — who was respectfully known as ‘Guruji’ — and how his lack of participation in active politics because of health reasons had brought about the downfall of JMM.
Champai Soren also cited cases where he was not allowed to discharge duties as the chief minister of the state “because the power was in somebody else’s hands”. He added that repeated insults left him with just three options — Resign from politics, set up his own organisation or find an appropriate companion to go along with and work for the welfare of the people.
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