Hemant Soren likely to return as Jharkhand CM: report

JMM executive president Hemant Soren is likely to return as chief minister of Jharkhand for the third time following consensus among legislators of the party-led alliance in the state, party sources said on Wednesday.

Sources said Champai Soren, who had taken oath as the 12th chief minister of Jharkhand on February 2 after Hemant Soren's arrest, may resign from the post soon.

Champai Soren has sought an appointment with Governor CP Radhakrishnan and the CM will call on him at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, Raj Bhavan sources said.

Leaders and MLAs of the alliance during a meeting at Champai Soren’s residence here unanimously decided to elect Hemant Soren as the JMM legislature party leader, they said.

"A decision was taken in the meeting to make Hemant Soren as the Chief Minister of the state again," a party source told PTI.

If sworn in, Hemant Soren will be the 13th chief minister of Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000.

Congress's Jharkhand in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir and its state president Rajesh Thakur also attended the meeting, besides Hemant Soren's brother Basant and wife Kalpana.

Hemant Soren was released from jail on June 28 after nearly five months, after the high court granted him bail in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He had resigned as the CM shortly before his arrest on January 31.

Meanwhile, in a post on X, BJP MP Nishkant Dubey said, "The Champai Soren era is over in Jharkhand. In the family-oriented party, people outside the family have no political future. I wish the chief minister drew inspiration from Bhagwan Birsa Munda and stood up against the corrupt Hemant Soren ji." Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi asserted that the tribals outside Shibu Soren’s family are only temporary faces in JMM. That family believes in using people as per their needs and requirements, he alleged.

Hemant is a son of Shibu Soren.

Marandi alleged that the real face of JMM, which had talked about rising above nepotism and electing a new chief minister five months ago, has once again been exposed.

He claimed that the "tiger of Kolhan", as Champai Soren is known in political circles, has been turned into a mouse today.

While Jharkhand can have 12 ministers, the state Cabinet at present has a strength of 10.

After the Lok Sabha elections, the strength of the JMM-led alliance in the state was reduced to 45 MLAs – JMM-27, Congress-17 and RJD-1.

Two JMM MLAs, Nalin Soren and Joba Majhi, are now parliamentarians, while Jama legislator Sita Soren resigned to contest the general elections on a BJP ticket. The JMM expelled two more legislators – Bishunpur MLA Chamra Linda and Boriyo MLA Lobin Hembrom – from the party.

Likewise, the BJP's strength in the assembly has reduced to 24, as two of its MLAs – Dhulu Mahto (Baghmara) and Manish Jaiswal (Hazaribag) –are now MPs. The saffron party has expelled Mandu MLA Jaiprakash Bhai Patel after he joined the Congress to contest the polls.

The current strength of the 81-member Jharkhand assembly is 76.