On a day when Ghatshila MLA Ramdas Soren replaced him in the Jharkhand Cabinet taking oath as a Minister, former Chief Minister Champai Soren, popularly known as the ‘Kolhan Tiger’, joined the BJP on Friday, marking a significant change in the State’s political landscape just ahead of the Assembly elections.
Champai along with a large number of his supporters crossed over to the saffron camp in the presence of Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a ceremony in Ranchi while Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar administered the oath to Ramdas in the presence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, senior leaders of the JMM-led coalition Government, and top bureaucrats. Though Ramdas’s portfolio is yet to be announced, he would likely be given similar portfolios as Champai held.
Champai’s induction into BJP is seen as a shot in the arm of the saffron party, looking to establish a foothold in the tribal belt of Jharkhand, where Scheduled Tribes make up about 26 per cent of the electorate.
This community which has been the main electoral base of the JMM. He was a close aide of JMM supremo Shibu Soren.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has alleged that Champai was kept under surveillance by his own government for six months and a befitting reply awaits the “corrupt” JMM-led alliance in two months. “Champai Soren was kept under surveillance by Jharkhand police for six months. I have never heard of such an instance. I warn you (Chief Minister Hemant Soren), we will give a befitting reply after two months,” Sarma said at a function in Ranchi where Champai joined the BJP.
After joining the BJP, Champai said, “After I was put under surveillance by the Jharkhand Government in Delhi and Kolkata, my resolve to join the BJP got strengthened.”He also said the BJP can save the tribals’ identity and check infiltration in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana. Alleging that the tribal identity was put “at stake” by the Congress, Champai said, “I am committed to delivering justice to the people.”
“I nurtured JMM with my sweat and blood but only got humiliation and insult in return. I am compelled to join the BJP. I am now proud to be a member of the world’s largest political party. I was not ready to tolerate humiliation and snooping,” Champai said. Champai had previously met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to announce his decision to join the BJP.
“Tiger Zinda Hai”, said Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday while welcoming Champai into the party fold. “When Champai was the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, he took tough decisions against middlemen. This irked JMM top leadership which started humiliating him. He had been trying to free Jharkhand from the malaise of corruption,” Chouhan said.
Champai quit the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Wednesday, claiming that the State Government’s present style of functioning and its policies compelled him to leave the party he served for many years. Champai has earned the moniker of ‘Jharkhand’s Tiger’ for his contribution to the fight for a separate state of Jharkhanf to be carved out of Bihar in the 1990s. Jharkhand was carved out of the southern part of Bihar in 2000.The elections to the 81-member Assembly are due later this year.
Despite being chosen over Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana to lead the government, Champai’s tenure as CM was short-lived. Five months into his term, Champai Soren was compelled to resign amid what he described as “bitter humiliation” from the party he once held dear. Following Hemant Soren’s release from jail on June 28 and his subsequent swearing-in as Chief Minister on July 4, Champai resigned on July 3.
A matriculate from a government school, he started his political career after getting elected as an Independent MLA through a by-election from the Seraikela seat in undivided Bihar in 1991.Four years later, he contested the assembly polls from the seat on the JMM ticket and defeated the BJP’s Panchu Tudu.
In the maiden 2000 assembly elections, he was defeated from the same constituency by the BJP’s Anant Ram Tudu.He regained the seat in 2005 by defeating the BJP candidate by a margin of only 880 votes and won subsequent elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.He served as a cabinet minister in the BJP government headed by Arjun Munda between September, 2010 and January, 2013 when BJP formed government in the state with the support of JMM.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost all the five ST reserved seats, while in the 2019 Assembly elections, the party could win only two of the 28 ST seats in the state.
