Sister-In-Law Of Hemant Soren, Sita Soren: BJP’s Candidate For Dumka Constituency (image-facebook/sita soren)

Sita Soren, sister-in-law of the former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren is fielded as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Dumka constituency. 

In a major setback for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), three-time MLA and elder daughter-in-law of party patriarch Shibu Soren joined the BJP on March 20. She cited the reasons for her resignation to be “isolation” and “neglect” by JMM since the death of her husband Durga Soren in 2009. 

Sita Soren is the widow of Hemant Soren’s elder brother Durga Soren. The former JMM leader was elected as the MLA from Jama in 2009. Soon after she was appointed as the JMM’s National General secretary. 

From the Jama constituency, Sita Soren won the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly elections for two more terms in 2014 and 2019. Earlier, the BJP leader was accused of receiving money from RK Agarwal in the 2012 Rajya Sabha elections. Over Rs 2 crore was seized from her residence on the day of the 2012 elections. She had to serve seven months in jail over the corruption charges and is out on bail now. 

Recently after the arrest of Hemant Soren, speculations were rife that his wife Kalpana Soren would take over as Jharkhand’s chief minister. The idea was then openly opposed by Sita, saying “I will strongly protest against any move to make her CM”. 

“I would like to ask why only Kalpana Soren, who is not even an MLA and has no political experience… under what circumstances is her name being touted as the next chief minister when there are so many senior leaders in the party,” she had questioned.

The Dumka constituency will go to polls on June 1.