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Journalism of Courage
A day after Jharkhand Transport Minister Champai Soren’s appointment was finalised by the Governor following Hemant Soren’s resignation and arrest, the senior JMM leader took oath as the new Chief Minister on Friday.
Champai Soren has been given 10 days to prove his government’s majority, Congress chief Rajesh Thakur, whose party is a constituent of the JMM-led alliance, said. “We stand united. Our alliance is very strong. No one can break it,” Champai Soren had said.
His appointment was finalised by Governor C P Radhakrishnan late on Thursday night, a little over 24 hours after Hemant Soren resigned from the post. Hemant Soren had submitted his resignation to the Governor Wednesday night, just before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate over allegations of money laundering.
This comes on a day when the Supreme Court has declined to entertain Hemant Soren’s petition challenging his arrest on money laundering charges. Instead, it asked him to approach the jurisdictional high court. “We are not inclined to entertain the present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India and leave it open to the petitioner to approach the jurisdictional high court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi said.
A veteran of the Jharkhand statehood movement, 67-year-old Champai Soren one of the senior-most leaders in JMM and has held several key portfolios such as welfare and transport. With his elevation as the legislature party leader in the Jharkhand Assembly, others in the ruling coalition were “forced to accept” him due to his seniority and closeness to Hemant’s father and former CM Shibu Soren. This virtually eliminated any chance of rebellion, according to party insiders.
Born to a family of farmers in Jilingagoda village in Saraikela-Kharsawan district, Soren grew up among scarcity and joined the movement for a separate Jharkhand quite young. “In his mind, he was always drawn to the welfare of the people of the village, that is Adivasis. That is one of the reasons he did not study after Class 10 and immersed himself in the Jharkhand movement,” said a source who has known the JMM leader for a long time.
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