It’s Official: Champai Soren To Join BJP, Boost To Party’s Tribal Vote Share Likely In Jharkhand

New Delhi: In a major blow to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in Jharkhand, its senior leader and former chief minister Champai Soren will soon join the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), sources said.

Soren met Union Home Minister Amit Shah late Monday night in New Delhi along with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the BJP’s co-incharge of Jharkhand assembly elections. Polls in the eastern state are scheduled to be held in November-December.

In a social media post, Sarma shared a photograph of the meeting and stated that Soren would officially join the BJP on August 30.

“Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and a distinguished Adivasi leader of our country, @ChampaiSoren Ji met Hon’ble Union Home Minister @AmitShah Ji a short while ago. He will officially join the @BJP4India on 30th August in Ranchi (sic.),” Sarma wrote on X.

Earlier, Sarma had told reporters in Ranchi that he wanted Soren to join the BJP. Soren had chosen to jump the ship without any conditions, reported the News 18.

‘Tiger’ of Jharkhand politics big draw for BJP

Political analysts opined that he could be a big boost to the saffron party because of being popular as a tribal leader and could play a crucial role in the upcoming Jharkhand elections.

The 67-year-old, who is often dubbed as ‘Tiger’ in the Jharkhand political circuit, joined the BJP at a time the saffron party saw a major fall in tribal votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. After the arrest of Hemant Soren, the sympathy of the tribals moved to JMM. This led to the BJP losing important seats like that of former Union minister Arjun Munda.

Why he shifted loyalty?

Champai Soren was sworn in as the chief minister of Jharkhand in February after the sitting chief minister, Hemant Soren, was arrested by the ED. Champai was made to step down in July after Hemant was out of jail and reinstated to the post of the chief minister. This distanced Champai from the party. Earlier, he had also cited cases where he was not allowed to discharge duties as the chief minister “because the power was in somebody else’s hands”.