Hemant Soren resigns, loyalist Champai Soren could be new Jharkhand CM

Hemant Soren resigns, loyalist Champai Soren could be new Jharkhand CM

Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand Chief Minister and head of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), resigned on Wednesday night after more than six hours of questioning by the Enforcement Directorate over ownership of a piece of land. His loyalist and state Transport Minister Champai Soren could step into his role.

Hemant Soren met the Governor while in ED custody and submitted his resignation. Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said, “CM Hemant Soren has decided to resign. Champai Soren has been chosen as the new leader of the Legislative party… All the MLAs are with us…” The JMM and Congress are allies in the state.

“We have staked claim to form new government, have support of 47 MLAs,” Champai was quoted by PTI as saying. According to sources, the Governor is learnt to have told the JMM-Congress leaders he will revert after considering the legalities involved.

Speculation was rife since around 5.30 pm, when two mini-buses were seen going inside CM’s residence. Half an hour later, Chief Secretary L Khyangate and DGP Ajay Kumar Singh also arrived at his residence.

The development caps days of drama between Soren and the investigative agency – from the ED searching his Delhi residence to his party lashing out for “maligning” his image.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Jharkhand Police had lodged an FIR against senior ED officials under the SC/ST Act based on Soren’s complaint with regards to the searches at his residence.

The ED has been sending summons to Soren in connection with an alleged money laundering case, and he has repeatedly refused to appear before the agency.

He has been questioned thrice so far: The first was in November 2021 in ED’s illegal mining case. The second and the third summons – on January 20 and 31 respectively – pertain to the alleged proceeds of crime emanating from the illegal sale and purchase of land in Ranchi in which IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan is also an accused.

In his police complaint, Soren had alleged that the ED conducted the search operation at his Delhi residence to “harass and malign him and his entire community”. Soren wrote in his complaint that the ED officials had informed the media of the purported search to create a spectacle and cause disrepute to him in the eyes of the general public.

He also addressed ED’s claims of a BMW car and cash being seized from the Delhi residence. “I am not the owner of the BMW car… I do not own any illicit cash,” he said, adding that the “aforesaid acts” were done to “intentionally humiliate me in public”.

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