On a day when former Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) stalwart Champai Soren is set to join the BJP, Ghatshila MLA Ramdas Soren replaced him in the state Cabinet after taking oath as a minister on Friday. Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar administered the oath to Ramdas in the presence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, senior leaders of the JMM-led coalition government, and top bureaucrats. Though Ramdas’s Cabinet post is yet to be announced, he would likely be given similar portfolios as Champai. Sources said that ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in the state, Hemant Soren would be keen on retaining the Kolhan belt – it comprises 14 Assembly seats, including Saraikela, Champai’s constituency, and Ghatshila, Ramdas’s seat – with the JMM. In the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP had not been able to win any seat in the Kolhan belt, where 11 seats were won by the JMM, two by the Congress, and one seat by an Independent. “Hemant Soren wants to repeat the 2019 performance and has been focussing on the Kolhan region for a long time. Past ministers include Deepak Birua, Jobha Manjhi (now an MP), and now Ramdas Soren. The idea is to trump the dent that Champai is thinking of making in the region now that he has crossed over to the saffron party,” a JMM source said. This is Ramdas’s second term as an MLA. He had earlier won the elections in 2009.
