‘All options are open’, says JMM leader Champai Soren amid speculation about him joining BJP

Senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Champai Soren on Sunday said that all options are open for him amid speculation that he could switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Earlier on Sunday, the former chief minister of Jharkhand denied reports that he was planning to join the Hindutva party ahead of the Assembly elections expected to take place later this year.

In a social media post on Sunday evening, Champai Soren said that he felt insulted by the manner in which he was asked to step down as the chief minister in July, after 152 days in office, to make way for party leader Hemant Soren to return to the post.

Champai Soren took over as Jharkhand’s chief minister on February 2. This came after Hemant Soren resigned on January 31 hours before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case.

Champai Soren resigned as the chief minister on July 3 after Hemant Soren was granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on June 28.

The comments by Champai Soren on Sunday were related to a meeting of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Legislative Party on July 3 that had been called to formalise the change of guard, and the days leading up to it.

Champai Soren claimed that the party leadership had postponed his official programmes for two days in early July until the meeting took place on July 3. “Can there be anything more humiliating in a democracy than a chief minister’s programs being cancelled by another person?” he said on Sunday.

“Although the chief minister has the right to call a meeting of the Legislative Party, I was not even told the agenda of the meeting,” he claimed. “During the meeting, I was asked to resign. I was surprised, but I had no greed for power, so I immediately resigned, but my heart was emotional due to the blow to my self-respect.”

‘All options are open’

The MLA from the Seraikella said that he was insulted. “After so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path,” he said.

The 67-year-old added: “With a heavy heart, I said in the same meeting of the Legislative Party that – ‘a new chapter of my life is going to start from today’. I had three options in this. First, to retire from politics, second, to form my own separate organisation and third, if I find a companion on this path, then to travel further with him.”

Till the Assembly elections, “all options are open for me in this journey”, he said.

The senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader also said that this was his “personal struggle” and that he neither intended to involve party members, nor hurt the organisation.

Without naming Champai Soren, Hemant Soren on Sunday accused the BJP of breaking away legislators from Opposition parties using the money power, India Today reported.

“They are busy breaking homes and dismantling political parties…” Hemant Soren said at a public rally. “Money is such a thing that it doesn’t take long for leaders to switch sides, but it’s alright… Our INDIA coalition government has been standing strong with the people since 2019.”

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level and is in alliance with the Congress in the state.

Earlier on Sunday, Champai Soren, who arrived in Delhi from Kolkata, told reporters that he did not meet BJP leaders and that he was on a “personal” visit. His comment was in response to reporters’ question whether he had met BJP’s West Bengal chief Suvendu Adhikari in Kolkata.

“I don’t know anything about such speculations and reports...” PTI quoted him as saying, before he left for Jamshedpur. “I am now where I am...”

He also said that his meeting with Lobin Hembrom, a disqualified Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA, was a routine matter.

Hembrom, who was an MLA from the Borio seat in Sahibganj district, was disqualified as legislator on July 25 under the anti-defection law.