Kalpana Murmu Soren, the newly elected JMM MLA from Gandey and wife of former chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday met former Chief Minister Hemant Soren at Hotwar Jail. Jharkhand Congress in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir also accompanied her. This meeting is important in many ways. During this meeting, it is said that a discussion between the three has taken place on important issues.

Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam, who is in jail, has resigned from his post, after which a ministerial post has become vacant. The post of leader of the legislative party is also vacant. In such a situation, it is possible that there may have been a discussion about the swearing-in of the new minister.

On earlier occasions too Kalpana Soren has gone to Hotwar Jail to meet Hemant Soren many times. Chief Minister of the state Champai Soren had accompanied her. During this, there is a discussion about the current situation of the state.

The meeting of Kalpana Soren with Hemant Soren assume importance as five months ahead of assembly elections, the Champai Soren-led coalition government in Jharkhand may witness a cabinet expansion in July. Jailed former CM Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren could be one of the inductees.

There are two vacancies in the Champai Cabinet and both may be filled to send a political message before assembly polls. Kalpana has won Gandey assembly bye-election in May. In the runup to parliamentary elections, she emerged as the party's star campaigner in the absence of Hemant, who has been lodged in jail since January in connection with a money laundering case linked with an alleged land grab.

According to JMM sources, Kalpana may be inducted in the Cabinet to portray her as the party's main face in the forthcoming polls. Sources close to her, however, denied this speculation, saying she won't want to enter the government for less than six months. JMM may not want to risk replacing Champai with Kalpana in the CM's chair as this could trigger an internal rebellion.

During last Parliamentary elections, Kalpana Soren had raised the issue that her husband's arrest was unexpected and triggered a shock in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the family.

Kalpana Soren, who has emerged as the party's new face, alleged that the BJP "is a tyrannical force that is hell-bent on oppressing the Opposition.

Kalpana, an Engineer with an MBA degree, has been thrust into the political limelight following her husband Hemant's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31. Hemant, Jharkhand's former chief minister was detained in connection with an alleged land grab case, disrupting the family's routine and pushing Kalpana into the public eye.