Ranchi
A day after severing his over 40-year-old ties with the JMM, former Jharkhand Chief Minister and veteran tribal leader Champai Soren joined the BJP that showcased its prized catch with much pomp and show here.
The importance the BJP attached to Champai’s induction into its fold can be gauged from the fact that Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (both BJP’s election incharge for Jharkhand elections), State BJP chief Babulal Marandi, former Union Minister Arjun Munda, Union MoS Sanjay Seth and Jamshedpur MP Vidyut Mahto among others were present to welcome him.
Not without reason. If the BJP was thrown out of power in Jharkhand in 2019, then the tribal-dominated Kolhan region, considered Champai’s turf, had a major role to play. Kolhan has 14 seats and the BJP drew a blank on it. Of the 14 seats, nine are reserved for STs and one reserved for SCs. The JMM swept the region, winning 11 seats, including eight ST and one SC seat. Two seats, including one ST seat, went to the Congress while the 14th seat was bagged by independent Saryu Roy, who defeated former Chief Minister Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur East. leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) empty-handed in Kolhan.
Overall, Jharkhand has 28 ST Assembly seats. And the JMM-led alliance had won 25 of them. It was a clear indication that the State’s tribals had overwhelmingly backed them.
In the Kolhan region, though Hos are considered as the most dominant political force, especially in terms of population, the Santhals have gained an upper hand in the recent past. During the recently concluded Lok Sabha election in Chaibasa, Joba Majhi, a Santhal leader, had defeated Geeta Koda.
But JMM insiders said Champai would not be of much help to the BJP, which seemingly has unrealistic expectations from the 67-year-old leader. They pointed out how in the recent Lok Sabha elections, JMM candidate Joba Majhi was ahead of its BJP rival Geeta Koda in all the assembly segments, except Saraikela, which had its MLA in Champai and who then also happened to be the Jharkhand Chief Minister.
They also pointed out how the JMM and the Congress together won all the five ST Lok Sabha seats in the polls recently. And how Hemant’s whirlwind tour of the State and going around a plethora of doles to different segments of the society has already made him the favourite to return to power. The tribal resentment against his arrest by the ED too would be at play again, they claimed.
However, there are other factors too at play for the BJP. It fought the last Assembly elections on its own as it could not stitch a pre-poll alliance with its long-time ally AJSU, which spoiled its fortunes on a number of seats by securing votes more than the defeat margin of the BJP candidates. But the BJP and AJSU would be fighting the coming elections together. Then again, former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi’s JVM-P too is not in the race now. JVM-P has since merged with the BJP, whose State president is now Marandi and the frontrunner for the CM’s post in the event of the NDA’s return to power.
For his part, Champai, who joined the BJP along with a large number of his supporters, raised the issue of tribals and said that he has now joined the world’s biggest political party in the larger interests of the adivasis and that the fate of all sections of society was secure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
He also alleged that the Congress has suppressed the tribals and that it was once again hand in gloves with the JMM. Repeating his commitments to fight for the rights of the downtrodden, he reiterated the humiliations caused to him in the recent past. Apparently justifying his switchover, he also reminded that earlier the JMM had a political alliance with the BJP as well.
Welcoming him to the BJP, Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed him the Tiger of Jharkhand. “Champai Soren worked very hard for the creation of Jharkhand and he dedicated his life to the service of the public. He has joined the BJP to remove the corrupt Jharkhand government from power. We welcome him. ‘Tiger abhi zinda hai’. He is the Tiger of Jharkhand and we will form the government in Jharkhand,” he asserted.
Whether Champai becomes an asset or a liability for the faction-ridden BJP in Jharkhand will be clear in a matter of just few months from now i.e after the Assembly elections.
Champai became the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on February 2, shortly after Hemant Soren resigned as the CM before being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. Champai quit the post on July 3 and Hemant took oath as the CM again on July 4, after he was released on bail.
