A social media push for embattled Soren as he tries to steer JMM through choppy waters

Besides, the Jharkhand High Court is hearing two petitions in which Soren is a party — the mining case and the alleged money laundering case in which the ED has submitted its report to the court in a sealed cover.

Sources admitted to some “anxiety” within the party hould Soren be disqualified by the EC. The BJP and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das had alleged that Soren misused his office by allocating a stone quarrying lease on government land to himself while he was the minister in-charge of mines in 2021. In the event of Soren being disqualified as MLA, his Barhait Assembly seat will see fresh elections and he will have to win the polls within six months to continue as CM.

A party leader said: “We are all closely watching the situation. The message on social media was meant to reinforce the message among the public that Hemant Soren is the actual leader of Jharkhand.”

JMM’s Jamtara district organisation secretary and the person in charge of its social media, Sadique Ansari, told The Indian Express: “With all the events happening in the state, we changed the display picture to tell people that there is no better political leader in the state other than Hemant Soren. The response from the public has been great. We believe our CM is being implicated in these cases.”

The messages, however, served to put the spotlight on the leadership crisis faced by the JMM, a party built by Soren’s father, Shibu Soren, and which has rarely promoted a second-rung of leaders outside of the family.

The cloud over the CM has also exposed the tensions in the ruling coalition that has 30 MLAs of the JMM, 18 of the Congress and one of the RJD.

While Congress MLAs have in the past accused Soren of sidelining them, the relationship between the two partners soured further over JMM’s decision to back Droupadi Murmu for the presidential polls over the Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.

Besides, the Congress has been grappling with problems of its own as it handles the effect of internal bickerings and the recent cross-voting by at least nine of its MLAs in favour of Murmu.

A senior Congress leader who spoke on condition of anonymity said the dissatisfaction among the state’s MLAs was so widespread that it made them vulnerable to poaching attempts. A party source said even Soren is worried about whether the Congress flock will stay together given their internal contradictions.

“The leadership in Delhi is closely watching the situation. However, there is no leader in the state Congress on whose call 12 MLAs (two-thirds of the 18 legislators) will defect. But the situation can change anytime,” the source said.

The Opposition BJP, meanwhile, is sharpening its knives at the prospect of the coalition government unravelling.

Attacking the JMM on its social media campaign on Soren, BJP state legislative party leader Babulal Marandi said, “Dynasty parties create a political narrative that turns the dynast into a ‘messiah’. So they create a narrative that other than the messiah, no one else can come to power.”

However, sources said there has been some disagreement between the central and state leadership of the BJP on what their strategy should be if the political crisis in the state exacerbates.

“The state leadership is of the view that there are only two years left for the next election and there is no need to use other means to pull down the government. But there is another view that the Soren government is at its lowest and something has to be done now.”