At a college event in Odisha in April 2023, Kalpana Soren, wife of Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president Hemant Soren, spoke of “self confidence”. Recounting her college days, Kalpana, 43, had told the event: “Remember, it is your self confidence which will protect you even when your life has turned upside down. Whether you have a degree, are a politician, IAS officer, or a police officer…If you lack self-confidence, you would lose in a winnable situation.” Kalpana has been making headlines now as Hemant finds himself increasingly facing heat from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case pertaining to an alleged land scam. Since February 2022, when the ED sought to link Hemant to an “illegal” ownership of a mining lease, there has been turbulence in state politics. The ED has also linked Hemant to a case of alleged embezzlement of the MGNREGA funds. A PIL seeking Hemant's resignation also came in amidst all this, which the Supreme Court termed “non-maintainable” in November 2022. The ED is currently probing a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand as part of which it has repeatedly summoned Hemant for questioning. On December 30, the central agency issued its seventh summons to the CM, who has skipped its six summones earlier. On January 3, the ED raided the premises of his press advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu. . Meanwhile, on December 31, senior JMM MLA from the Gandey constituency, Sarfaraz Ahmad, resigned from his membership of the Assembly, claiming that he has done it due to “personal reasons”. The state BJP however claimed that Ahmad was made to quit to facilitate Kalpana Soren to contest the bypoll from Gandey so that she could become the CM in the wake of any eventuality arising out of the ED's action against the CM leading to the latter's arrest. Hemant, however, dismissed the BJP's claims as “false and baseless”. A JMM functionary however said that notwithstanding Hemant's bid to allay the concerns of his party and the ruling coalition partners, including the Congress and the RJD, over the question of his possible resignation as the CM, Kalpana would “step up to take over the responsibility from the CM if required under such an eventuality”. Another JMM leader said, “Kalpana may not be a legislator so far but she has impacted how Hemant Soren has dealt with various political situations.” Role in govt initiatives Kalpana, who hails from Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, has a Masters in Engineering and also holds an MBA degree. She got married to Hemant in February 2006. They have two sons. A source from the CM's office said, “Kalpana is also close to President Droupadi Murmu, who also hails from Mayurbhanj district,” attributing the JMM’s support to Murmu in the 2022 presidential elections to this factor. Kalpana is said to have been involved in ensuring the success of a forthcoming two-day tribal festival in the state. In a media interview in December 2019, when Kalpana was asked about Hemant's “likes and dislikes”, she said: “We both do our best, but more importantly we discuss what is best for the state and how to go about it. Recently, we deliberated on how to make the 181-women helpline number-more functional." As the ED turns up the heat on the CM, Kalpana is set to remain in the limelight ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls in the state.
