Hemant resigns amid buzz of arrest by ED

 Hemant Soren was questioned by ED Wednesday for his alleged involvement in a case of money laundering. This is one of two cases against Soren being investigated by central agency.

File image of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren with his wife Kalpana | ANI

SHANKER ARNIMESH, The Print, 31 January, 2024, New Delhi: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Wednesday picked the Sorens’ trusted aide and state minister Champai Soren as chief minister as incumbent Hemant Soren, facing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation, resigned.

According to party sources, the JMM had Tuesday taken MLA signatures on two pieces of paper, proposing two alternatives for the post of chief minister, as reports of Hemant Soren’s likely arrest by the ED began to loom.

While one letter proposed Soren’s wife Kalpana as his potential successor, the second one suggested the name of Champai Soren, currently the transport minister. The idea was to approach the governor with the name of whoever emerged as the consensus candidate in the event of Hemant Soren’s arrest, sources in the JMM said.

Hemant Soren was questioned by the ED Wednesday for his alleged involvement in a case of money laundering. This is one of two cases against Soren being investigated by the central agency.

On Wednesday, a day after the signatures were taken, the JMM MLAs who had gathered at the CM’s residence during his questioning deliberated on his successor. They subsequently set forth to meet the governor with the letter proposing the consensus choice, Champai Soren, but the governor only allowed five leaders to meet him.

Hemant Soren, meanwhile, met Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan with ED officials to tender his resignation.

Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said “Hemant Soren has decided to resign and Champai Soren has been chosen new leader”.

After meeting the governor, Champai Soren said, “We have presented a support letter to the governor with the sign of 43 MLAs to form the new government.”

There had earlier been speculation that Hemant wanted Kalpana to take his place — like ally Lalu Prasad of the RJD did in 1997 with wife Rabri Devi as he faced arrest in the fodder scam. However, the CM picked Champai Soren, in light of the hurdles Kalpana was likely to have faced in getting elected. 

If appointed CM, Kalpana, a businesswoman who holds an MBA, would have needed to get elected to the assembly in six months. But the term of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha is set to expire later this year, and there is doubt the Election Commission (EC) will hold a bypoll so close to the state election.

There was also some resistance within the family to her nomination to the post.

Champai Soren is known to be a close aide of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and Hemant.

“JMM MLAs elected Champai Soren to lead the state because Kalpana Soren may face the bypoll hurdle,” a source said. “Champai Soren, a trusted aide of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, has a clean image and enjoys popularity in the tribal community and closeness to Hemant Soren.”

State health minister Bana Gupta had told ThePrint earlier that “all MLAs are united, and a decision will be taken in the state’s interest if the situation demands”.

“But it’s the BJP that is trying to disturb the state government’s functioning by spreading rumours in the state,” he added.

The JMM has 29 MLAs in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, while ally Congress has 17 and the RJD and the CPIML, which are also part of the government, have one MLA each, making a total of 48. 

The BJP has 26 MLAs, while alliance partner AJSU has three. It also has the support of two independents. 

Meanwhile, there are worries in the BJP about the potential implications of arresting a tribal leader ahead of Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

“Arresting a tribal chief minister can be counterproductive just ahead of Lok Sabha and assembly election,” a BJP leader said. “The BJP strategy is to build a narrative of corruption and the party has been successful in building that… the party will take every step carefully.”

Also Read: Amid high drama over an ‘untraceable’ Hemant Soren, Jharkhand CM arrives at his Ranchi residence

What next?

Speculation about Kalpana’s political debut started when JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmed resigned from the assembly this month. He represented Gandey, a general seat with a significant population of tribals and Muslims that has alternately been won by Ahmed — a three-time MP who switched from the Congress to the JMM ahead of the 2019 elections — or Salkhen Soren of the JMM. 

On Tuesday, as the JMM MLAs held a meeting amid high drama surrounding the ED’s summons to Hemant Soren, Kalpana was in attendance. It was at this meeting that the MLAs signed the letters. 

Speaking to ThePrint, JMM MLA Samir Mohanty had said that “there was complete consensus on the name of Kalpana Soren but the party picked Champai as he is a sitting MLA”. 

Earlier, Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren, a three-time MLA and wife of the CM’s elder brother Durga, who died in 2009, had publicly staked claim to the CM’s chair “as the elder bahu of the family”. 

“My claim is first. I will oppose the candidature of Kalpana Soren,” she added. “I am a three-term MLA and I have struggled a lot. There are many senior leaders in the party and consensus can also be built on their name. I will not accept Kalpana as leader.”

A JMM insider said party patriarch Shibu Soren knew that making Kalpana CM may not be the right political move, so Champai Soren was the obvious choice”. 

When the choice was yet to be made, Hemant Soren’s brother Basant, also an MLA, had said the “family is united”.

“A decision that is good for the party and state will be taken,” he added, before taking a potshot at BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who had earlier suggested Kalpana could succeed her husband as CM. 

“This is not Nishikant Dubey’s family. It’s JMM family. Those things happen in Nishikant Dubey’s family, not in the JMM,” he added.

Hemant Soren had also said earlier that the “possibility of my wife contesting in the near future is a complete imagination of the BJP”.

Kalpana, an engineering graduate who runs her own organic farming business and schools in Ranchi, has kept her distance from politics, except participating in women-and-child-related programmes and sharing public platforms with her husband.