Jharkhand Assembly bypoll: Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren on Tuesday said the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) will take a final call on the candidature of Kalpana Soren, wife of former CM Hemant Soren, from the Gandey Assembly seat in a week.
The Jharkhand CM said that the decision regarding whether Kalpana would be appointed as the chief minister, if she contests and emerges victorious, would rest with the JMM. "The JMM will take a final call in a week if Kalpana Soren will be fielded from the Gandey Assembly seat. If she contests and wins, the final decision on whether she will be made the chief minister will be taken by the party leaders including president Shibu Soren, Hemant Soren and others," the CM said.
The by-election for the Gandey constituency is scheduled for May 20, coinciding with the parliamentary elections in the state. The seat, located in Giridih district, became vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad.
Speculations are rife that Kalpana may be nominated as a JMM candidate from this constituency. Meanwhile, the BJP has given a ticket to Dilip Kumar Verma for the by-election in the Gandey assembly constituency in Jharkhand.
Kalpana Soren embarked on her political journey during the 51st foundation day celebration of the JMM in Giridih district on March 4. At the event, she asserted that a conspiracy had been set in motion by opponents since the formation of the Hemant Soren-led coalition government in 2019.
The ruling alliance, led by JMM, has 47 MLAs in the 81-member assembly. The BJP has 26 MLAs and the AJSU Party has three. Additionally, the NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, alongside two Independents and a nominated member. Within the ruling alliance, the JMM has 29 MLAs, the Congress has 17, and the RJD has one legislator.
"Injustice" done to Hemant Soren
He alleged that a great injustice had been done to Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to a money laundering case associated with an alleged land scam. “BJP-led forces may have succeeded in putting him behind bars but the tribals of Jharkhand will show the Bharatiya Janata Party the exit door in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls... We are more than confident of winning all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state," Champai Soren said.
Will JMM field Hemant Soren from Dumka seat LoK Sabha seat?
In response to a query regarding whether the JMM will nominate Hemant Soren from the Dumka seat against BJP nominee Sita Soren, a former three-term JMM MLA and elder-daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, he said that the party will make a decision on this matter soon.
He dismissed Sita's allegations of neglect and isolation within the JMM, noting that the party had elected her as MLA three times.
Last month, Sita dealt a blow to the JMM by joining the saffron party, citing neglect and isolation by the JMM since her husband Durga Soren's passing in 2009.
Originally a farm worker from the remote Jilingora village in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district, Champai Soren was sworn in as Jharkhand CM on February 2.
A loyalist of Shibu Soren, the former state transport minister is affectionately known as “Jharkhand's tiger" for his role in the protracted struggle for the creation of a separate Jharkhand state in the 1990s.
(With PTI inputs)
