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The state of Jharkhand is likely to go to the polls at the end of the year and as the date of the elections nears, political manoeuvring has begun in the state.
There has been intense speculation on the future status of Champai Soren the former Chief Minister who had stepped into the role when Hemant Soren was arrested in connection with an alleged land scam case. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma who is the election co-incharge from the BJP refused to give a firm indication on the speculations. "No one is in touch with us yet. I am also hearing these reports from the channels. Champai Soren is a very senior leader, I do not want to make any informal comment about him," he said. Later in a post on X, the Assam CM further said, "If any work was done in the 5 years of JMM-Cong in Jharkhand, it was done only during the 6 months of Champai Soren's tenure. Now Champai ji's photo has disappeared from every advertisement." Last week the BJP held a meeting of all its district heads, the meeting was attended virtually by election in-charge and Union Minister Shivraj Chauhan while Himanta Sarma and state BJP President Babulal Marandi attended in Ranchi. During the meeting, the BJP chalked out its election strategies. Meanwhile, former Jharkhand BJP President and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash on Saturday said that the inclusion of Champai Soren in the party depends on the central leadership. He said, "I have heard this in reports only. I don't have any authentic information... He (Champai Soren) was serving Jharkhand as a good CM... Everything depends on the central leadership". He further stated that the way Champai Soren was removed from the Chief Minister of the state was a setback. "He is a huge personality... 3.5 crore people of Jharkhand were happy with his work... But the way he was removed from the CM post, was unfortunate. It was a setback that a good person was removed from the CM's chair. What was his fault?" the BJp leader said. Champai Soren had taken oath as the 12th Chief Minister of Jharkhand in the Raj Bhavan on February 2 this year. He then resigned from the post of Chief Minister on July 3, a day before JMM executive president Hemant Soren took oath as the 13th chief minister of Jharkhand on July 4. In 2019, JMM fought the assembly elections in alliance with the Congress and Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and got a comfortable majority with forty-seven seats in the 81-member house. (ANI)
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