Amid growing buzz over his ‘switch’ to BJP, JMM ex-CM Champai Soren says he is exploring 3 options

“When the party’s central executive meeting has not been held for years, and one-sided orders are passed, then whom should I go to and tell my problems? I am counted among the senior members in this party, the rest are juniors, and the supremo who is senior to me is no longer active in politics due to health, then what option did I have? If he had been active, perhaps the situation would have been different,” he further said.

जोहार साथियों,

आज समाचार देखने के बाद, आप सभी के मन में कई सवाल उमड़ रहे होंगे। आखिर ऐसा क्या हुआ, जिसने कोल्हान के एक छोटे से गांव में रहने वाले एक गरीब किसान के बेटे को इस मोड़ पर लाकर खड़ा कर दिया।

अपने सार्वजनिक जीवन की शुरुआत में औद्योगिक घरानों के खिलाफ मजदूरों की आवाज…

— Champai Soren (@ChampaiSoren) August 18, 2024

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Champai triggered speculation about his impending crossover to the BJP when he landed in Delhi on Sunday, a day after making a trip to Kolkata.

Earlier today, he had denied meeting Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, claiming that he was in Kolkata and then proceeded to Delhi for his “personal work”. “Abhi hum jahan par hain, wahin par hain (I am now where I am),” he told the media in Delhi.

However, both the BJP and the JMM insiders said Champai is set to join the BJP in the national capital. “He (Champai) will most likely join BJP. But the Hemant Soren group in Delhi will do its best to avoid this scenario. So there may be other outcomes too,” a source in the BJP said.

JMM sources said differences emerged within the party after it denied Champai’s request to make his son its candidate from the Ghatshila seat in the upcoming Assembly polls. “He (Champai) is just building a premise to quit and thus many baseless stories are being spread. It is clear he went to Kolkata and reportedly met BJP leaders. Everything will be clear if and when he joins the BJP,” a JMM leader said.

Tension has since been simmering in their camps over the transition of power. While Champai eventually gave up the CM’s chair, sources said it did not happen without hiccups. “He (Champai) is a mass leader and not a discarded politician. He felt disheartened that he was asked to give up the CM’s chair,” sources aware of the JMM-Congress coalition’s meeting on this issue had told The Indian Express.

The 81-member Jharkhand Assembly currently has 47 INDIA bloc MLAs – including 30 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress and one from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – while the BJP and its allies have 30 legislators. There are two Independent MLAs while the CPI (M-L) and the NCP have one legislator each.

Sources said Champai was of the opinion that the state will go to the polls by the end of this year and that replacing him would not send out a “good message”, especially at a time when Hemant was out on bail and attempts to “destabilise” the government were a plausible concern.

Looking to fuel the JMM’s internal power struggle, Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi had said that tribal leaders from outside the Shibu Soren family were only “kaam chalau (ad hoc leaders)” in the JMM. “They (tribal leaders of JMM) must understand that they are meant only to be the palanquin bearers of the Shibu Soren family,” he had alleged.

Kharsawan MLA Dasrath Gagrai, who is said to be among the JMM MLAs speculated to be joining the BJP along with Champai, said: “I deny the news of my joining BJP…misleading news is being spread in the media about me that I am going to Delhi with former Chief Minister Shri Champai Soren…I am currently involved in foundation stone laying/inauguration programmes in my constituency. The people of Kharsawan have made me win the elections…I owe a huge debt to the voters…I cannot betray my voters by joining the BJP. Shibu Soren is a widely recognised leader of this state and I am in politics under his patronage. We will eat half the bread but will not let Guruji (Shibu Soren)’s honour go down. JMM is the party of the soil of this state and I am proud that I am a soldier of this party.”