JMM’s Champai Soren takes oath as Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Champai Soren, known to be a close aide of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren on Friday took oath as seventh chief minister, two days after Hemant Soren was arrested in corruption charges. A loyalist of JMM president Shibu Soren, the state transport minister is popularly known as “Jharkhand’s tiger” for his contribution to the long fight for creation of a separate Jharkhand state in the 1990s.

Governor C P Radhakrishnan on Thursday had nominated JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren as chief minister and invited him to take oath. 

Champai Soren, heading a delegation of JMM-led coalition, called on the governor and urged him to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest as there was “confusion” in the state. He told Radhakrishnan that the state which was without a chief minister since the resignation of Hemant Soren, deepening the political crisis. Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case after he resigned as chief minister on Wednesday night.

Who is Champai Soren

 A matriculate from a government school, Champai Soren (67) got married at a young age and has four sons and three daughters. He started his political career by getting elected as an independent MLA through a by-election from the Saraikela seat in 1991. Four years later, he contested the assembly polls from the seat on JMM ticket and defeated the BJP’s Panchu Tudu.

In the 2000 assembly elections, he was defeated from the same constituency by the BJP’s Anant Ram Tudu. He regained the seat in 2005 as defeating the BJP candidate by a margin of only 880 votes. Champai Soren won the subsequent elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.

He served as a cabinet minister in the BJP government headed by Arjun Munda between September 2010 to January 2013. When Hemant Soren formed a government in the state in 2019, Champai Soren became the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Transport. His name has been proposed as the new Chief Minister of Jharkhand and a support letter has been given to the Governor CP Radhakrishnan.