Days after dismissing speculation about joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren officially joined the party on Friday in Ranchi. Soren along with his supporters joined the BJP at a ceremony attended by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“I was embarrassed, and that’s why I had decided to retire (from politics). However, because of love and support of people of Jharkhand, I decided to not to retire from politics. I have seen the struggle during the ‘Jharkhand andolan’,” Soren said after his induction into the BJP.
“I thought that I will launch a new party or join another party, but I will never stay in that organisation where I was embarrassed. Later, I decided to join a party (BJP) to continue serving the people of Jharkhand,” he continued.
A close associate of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) founder Shibu Soren, 67-year-old Champai Soren resigned from the party on Wednesday. In his resignation letter to Shibu Soren, he expressed, “I have never ever imagined in my dreams that I would quit JMM, a party which is like a family to me. The turn of events of the past forced me to take this decision with much pain…I am pained to say that the party has deviated from its principle.”
Champai Soren’s entry into the BJP is expected to bolster the party’s efforts to gain a stronger presence in Jharkhand’s tribal regions, where Scheduled Tribes constitute approximately 26 per cent of the electorate.
Champai had served as Chief Minister briefly after Hemant Soren resigned on January 31 ahead of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. Soren remained in the position until Hemant Soren was granted bail on June 28. CHampai had to resign to make way for Hemant.
Champai spoke about the “bitter humiliation” he faced and how his authority was undermined, with decisions being made without his consultation, including the cancellation of important government programs and meetings. He recounted being unexpectedly asked to resign during a legislative party meeting on July 3. Although caught off guard, Soren complied immediately, but described the experience as extremely humiliating.
“After so much humiliation, I was forced to look for an alternative path…Can there be anything more humiliating in a democracy than having a chief minister’s programme cancelled by another person? During the meeting (legislative party meeting on July 3), I was asked to resign,” Champai Soren had remarked.
“But all he (referring to Chief Minister Hemant Soren without naming him) seemed interested in was the chair. I felt as though I had no existence, no presence in the party to which I had dedicated my entire life,” he added.
The Jharkhand Assembly elections are scheduled for later this year. In the 2019 elections, the JMM, in alliance with Congress and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), secured a comfortable majority with 47 seats in the 81-member house.
