In a major development, minutes after Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren resigned as the State’s Chief Minister barely 152 days after taking oath,  his predecessor and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s chief, Hemant Soren who is out on bail in the money-laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) staked claim to form the next Government which he relinquished a few months ago before his arrest by the probe agency.

This is for the third time that Hemant will become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. He will be the 13th Chief Minister of the State, which was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000.

“A few days ago, I was made the Chief Minister and I got the responsibility of the State. After Hemant Soren was back, our alliance took this decision and we chose Hemant Soren as our leader. I have resigned as per the decision of the JMM-led alliance. Our alliance is strong. All know what had happened with Hemant Soren... I was given the responsibility by the coalition partners. Now, the alliance has decided in favour of Hemant Soren”, Champai said after coming out of Raj Bhawan.

A request was also submitted to Governor C P Radhakrishnan by Hemant to form the Government. After meeting with the Governor, Hemant told the media that all formalities to form the Government are complete.

“Everything will be disclosed soon,” Hemant said when asked about the swearing-in.

Earlier in the day, Champai who had taken oath as the 12th chief minister of Jharkhand on February 2, met Governor Governor CP Radhakrishnan and tendered his resignation, paving way for the Hemant to take oath as the next chief minister.  This comes after a meeting at Champai’s residence with MLAs and other senior leaders of the ruling coalition who unanimously decided to elect Hemant as the leader of the party. His comeback has been agreed upon by the party’s allies Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). 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.

 It is learnt that Champai is likely to be given a new responsibility as the Chairman of UPA coordination committee and working president of JMM.  Soon after the party’s MLAs and leaders meeting, Champai has sought an appointment with Governor CP Radhakrishnan, who called him Raj Bhawan  at 7.30 pm.

The political scenario in the state changed on June 28 when Hemant secured bail from the Jharkhand High Court in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, noting that there was “no reason to believe” that he was guilty of the alleged offence. He had been in jail since January 31, when he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the case. Hemant had resigned as the chief minister shortly before being arrested, after Champai Soren took over the post.

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.

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.