Ranchi
Incarcerated former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s better half and JMM chief Shibu Soren’s younger daughter-in-law Kalpana Murmu Soren formally jumped into poll fray on Monday. She filed her nomination papers for Gandey Assembly seat in Giridih district, where by-election will be held on May 20, alongwith general elections for the said Lok Sabha seat.
This is Kalpana’s maiden major political venture since her husband’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case in an alleged land scam on January 30. Earlier, she participated in important political rallies of the JMM and also the INDIA bloc held in Mumbai, Delhi and Ranchi aimed at mobilising the support of like minded forces to defeat the BJP.
Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren and his senior ministers, including Hemant’s younger brother Basant Soren, were present when Kalpana filed her nomination papers and addressed an election meeting in Giridih.
Earlier, though Basant had paved the way for Kalpana’s smooth entry to active power politics he was not seen by her side in public meetings, including the Ulgulan Nyay Maharally held in Ranchi on April 21.
The JMM first family’s show of unity comes against the backdrop of Shibu Soren’s eldest daughter-in-law Sita Soren having already walked into the BJP, which has put her as its candidate from the Soren stronghold of Dumka Lok Sabha seat. As Basant too was staying away from Kalpana’s public meetings, it began to be speculated that all is not fine in the Soren family.
In fact, this is for the first time, when Basant registered his presence while a JMM candidate filed nominations for contesting the ensuing elections. Kalpana will be locking horns with Dilip Kumar Verma of BJP.
The Gandey seat fell vacant following the resignation by senior Congress leader and sitting MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad. He was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed.
The Giridih area is known as a traditional stronghold of JMM, Congress and Left, especially CPI-ML (Liberation). But, the mighty BJP and its ally AJSU party in the periphery too can not be ignored. Sitting Giridih MP Chandra Prakash Choudhary belongs to AJSU party and the BJP has expressed faith in him once again.
In this background, Kalpana would be trying her luck in the electoral battlefield. Whoever wins the bypoll will remain an MLA for six months or so when the full fledged Assembly elections will be held in Jharkhand.
