Soren’s announcement came a day after he met Shah and confirmed Assam Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. (PTI file)
The 67-year-old tribal leader expressed faith in the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah
Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren on Tuesday announced that he will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the state assembly elections.
The 67-year-old tribal leader expressed faith in the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Soren’s announcement came a day after he met Shah and confirmed Assam Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He had earlier hinted that he might float a new political party in the run-up to the state assembly elections.
The former CM, who was associated the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for over two decades, said there was no such forum/platform in the JMM where he could express his pain.
जोहार साथियों,पिछले हफ्ते (18 अगस्त) एक पत्र द्वारा झारखंड समेत पूरे देश की जनता के सामने अपनी बात रखी थी। उसके बाद, मैं लगातार झारखंड की जनता से मिल कर, उनकी राय जानने का प्रयास करता रहा। कोल्हान क्षेत्र की जनता हर कदम पर मेरे साथ खड़ी रही, और उन्होंने ही सन्यास लेने का विकल्प…
— Champai Soren (@ChampaiSoren) August 27, 2024
What led Champai’s exit from JMM?
The JMM leader was anointed to the top post after Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. Champai stepped down from the post on July 3 after Hemant Soren was granted bail by Jharkhand High Court.
He was unhappy with the way he was unceremoniously removed from the Chief Minister’s post to make way for Hemant Soren to become CM again.
He complained in close quarters that he felt “insulted” by the way he was removed, say sources. He is a tribal leader who had always been a perpetual “chief minister-in-waiting”. He is an Adivasi by birth and a loyalist of the Soren family.
WHO IS CHAMPAI SOREN?
Champai has earned the sobriquet “Jharkhand’s Tiger” for his contribution to the long fight for the creation of a separate state in the 1990s. Jharkhand was created from the southern part of Bihar in 2000.
A matriculate from a government school, he started his political career by getting elected as an independent MLA through a by-election from the Saraikela seat in undivided Bihar in 1991.
He served as a cabinet minister in the BJP government headed by Arjun Munda between September 2010 to January 2013.
When Hemant Soren formed his second government in the state in 2019, Champai Soren became the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Transport.
