Assembly elections are to be held in Jharkhand this year. To compete with the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Alliance, the BJP-led NDA is taking strategically important and big decisions. JMM leader and Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s biggest support base is among the tribal and rural communities of Jharkhand and the BJP is making every effort to bring this class to its side. Just before the Lok Sabha elections, the elder daughter-in-law of the Soren family, Sita Soren, entered the BJP. After that, Geeta Koda, wife of the state’s big tribal leader and former CM Madhu Koda, was inducted into the party.
BJP fielded both the women leaders in the general elections. However, this gamble did not succeed and both lost the elections. Now it is the turn of the assembly elections. Just before the elections, BJP is going to play another big gamble and tribal leader and former Chief Minister Champai Soren (68 years), famous as the Tiger of Kolhan, is going to enter the party. The entire script has been written. This entry will take place on August 30.
The question is whether Champai Soren will be able to end BJP’s drought in Kolhan? Will he be able to bring the tribal vote bank of Kolhan area in favor of BJP? Will he be able to break the impenetrable fort of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and open BJP’s account in 14 assembly seats? The answers to all these questions will be clear only after the assembly election results, but after the news of Champai joining BJP, there is heat in the politics of Kolhan.
Champai was the CM of Jharkhand for 5 months
Actually, Hemant Soren is surrounded by allegations of alleged irregularities and corruption in the allocation of mining leases. The Enforcement Directorate arrested Hemant on the night of January 31 after questioning him in money laundering. He resigned from the post of CM before going to jail. Champai Soren was elected the new leader in the party legislature party meeting. Champai took oath as the 12th Chief Minister of Jharkhand on February 2. However, after being in jail for about five months, Hemant got bail and was released. In such a situation, Champai had to leave the chair and on July 4, Hemant once again took oath as the Chief Minister. After this entire incident, Champai’s resentment has come to the fore openly. Champai says that before July 3, all the programs were postponed while I was the CM. I was insulted.
Champai said that I was not even told the agenda of the meeting of the legislative party. During the meeting, I was asked to resign. I have become emotional due to the hurt to my self-respect. For the first time in my spotless political journey of the last four decades, I am broken from within. I was treated disrespectfully for three days. They were only interested in the chair. I felt as if I have no existence in that party. There is no existence at all in the party for which we have dedicated our entire life. After so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path.
What is Champai’s next plan?
Champai reached Delhi on the evening of 26 August and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. After this meeting, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed that Champai will officially join BJP in Ranchi on 30 August. Earlier, the central government has decided to provide Z plus security to Champai. Champai may resign from Hemant Cabinet on 28 August. Earlier on 21 August, Champai had announced to form a new party. Champai is currently the national vice-president of JMM. He has been an MLA from Saraikela continuously since 2005. He contested and won the election for the first time as an independent in 1991. In 1995, he contested and won the election on a JMM ticket.
Will BJP become stronger in Kolhan with the help of Champai?
Champai is considered a big tribal leader in Jharkhand. He is known as Kolhan Tiger in his home region. Champai played an important role with Shibu Soren in the Bihar-Jharkhand division. He did politics with Shibu Soren for about 2 decades and is considered a mature leader. Saraikela, from where Champai is an MLA, comes in Kolhan area and tribals have a lot of dominance in this area. After the news of Champai’s displeasure and leaving the party, JMM is very cautious and in any case does not want to give the message to the public that they have any intention of insulting Champai Soren.
Champai dominates 14 seats of Kolhan
Kolhan division comprises three districts – East Singhbhum, Saraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum. There are 14 assembly seats in these three districts and Champai Soren has considerable influence. JMM does not have any leader in this area who can become an alternative to Champai. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has been benefiting from Champai’s organizational capabilities. BJP has been looking for a strong tribal leader in this area. Now through Champai, BJP can not only strengthen its hold on 14 seats, but can also start a winning streak. Champai has also been a part of the NDA government before this. He has been a cabinet minister in the NDA government from September 2010 to January 2013. He has also been the Minister of Transport and Backward Welfare in 2019.
The then CM Raghuvar Das had lost
East Singhbhum district comes in Kolhan division. There are six seats in this district. These include Baharagora, Ghatshila, Potka, Jugsalai, Jamshedpur (East) and Jamshedpur (West). In the 2020 elections, JMM won four seats. Congress’s Banna Gupta won one seat in Jamshedpur (West) and BJP’s rebel independent Saryu Rai won from Jamshedpur (East). The then CM Raghubar Das was defeated. BJP’s account could not be opened.
JMM Alliance had captured 13 seats
Similarly, there are three seats in Seraikela Kharsawan district. These include Ichagarh, Kharsawan, Seraikela. In 2020, JMM had captured all these three seats. At the same time, there are five assembly seats in West Singhbhum district. These include Chaibasa, Majhgaon, Jagannathpur, Manoharpur, Chakradharpur. In the 2020 elections, JMM had won four seats. Congress had won one seat in Jagannathpur. That is, out of the 14 assembly seats in the Kolhan region, JMM had won 11 seats in 2020. Two seats were won by alliance ally Congress. One seat was occupied by an independent. BJP’s hands remained empty.
The results of Kolhan had pushed BJP away from power
At the time of the 2020 assembly elections, there was a BJP government in the state. The Modi factor and the Ram Mandir wave were being seen across the country. Despite that, Hemant Soren’s JMM upset all the equations of the BJP and secured the necessary support with the help of the alliance to form the government. In 2020, JMM got 30 seats, Congress got 16, RJD got one, Communist Party got one, NCP got one seat. Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) got 3 seats, BJP got 25, AJSU Party got 2 and independents won two seats.
After the Lok Sabha elections, the strength of the JMM-led coalition in Jharkhand has come down to 45 MLAs. JMM has 27 MLAs, Congress has 17 and RJD has one MLA. BJP’s strength has also come down to 24.
Champai made his mark as a labor leader
The history of Champai Soren’s strong hold in the Kolhan region is quite old. He is known as a leader of the working class. He fought for Jharkhand under the leadership of Shibu Soren. He himself is proud of the fact that more than 10 thousand youths from the local villages of this region got jobs in industrial establishments like Tata Group. Experts say that in case Champai Soren joins the BJP, both JMM and Congress are bound to suffer losses. Champai’s influence will directly benefit the BJP and
JMM’s vote share will decrease in the seats of this area and BJP’s chances of winning will increase.
Questions are being raised on Hemant’s leadership?
Here, due to corruption allegations, questions are being raised on the legitimacy of Hemant’s leadership. Central investigation agencies are collecting evidence in this entire matter. Experts say that the investigation of the mining lease allocation case has affected Hemant’s political graph, which has weakened his position. Issues like unemployment, economic slowdown, and lack of investment have dominated the state’s politics for the entire 5 years. The inability of the Hemant government to deal with these issues has also affected his political graph.
Geeta-Sita duo lost in Lok Sabha elections?
Lok Sabha elections were announced in March this year. Just before the elections, Congress suffered a major setback when the current MP from Singhbhum seat, Geeta Koda, joined BJP. Geeta is the wife of former CM Madhu Koda. After this development, Congress had to hand over the traditional seat to its ally JMM. Since this seat was reserved for Scheduled Tribes and the party did not have any strong candidate to challenge BJP on this seat. JMM fielded Joba Manjhi, who was elected MLA from Manoharpur assembly seat five times. BJP bet on Geeta Koda. When the results of Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat came, BJP suffered a major setback. Geeta lost the election by 1 lakh 68 thousand votes. Joba Manjhi is considered to have a strong hold in the Kolhan area. It was believed that BJP could not completely dent the tribal vote bank. Because in 2019, despite the Modi wave, Geeta Koda, who was the Congress candidate, defeated BJP’s late Laxman Giluwa by more than 50 thousand votes on the Singhbhum seat. But this time she could not do wonders.
Similarly, angry with Hemant Soren, his sister-in-law Sita Soren left JMM just before the general elections and joined BJP. Sita is the daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren and wife of late Durga Soren. She has been a JMM MLA from Jama seat of Dumka district. Sita said that she was being constantly neglected within JMM, upset by this, she decided to leave the party. Dumka is considered to be the stronghold of JMM. BJP hoped that Sita’s joining the party would strengthen the organization and it would be easy to win the Dumka Lok Sabha seat. However, Sita lost the election by a narrow margin. Nalin Soren of JMM from Dumka defeated her by 22 thousand 527 votes.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)