Champai Soren, former Jharkhand CM, set to join BJP on August 30

Ahead of assembly polls, former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, Champai Soren is set to join Bharatiya Janata Party on August 30 in Ranchi. The decision comes after the veteran leader said he felt "insulted" during his tenure as Chief Minister and that all options remained open ahead of the forthcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections.

"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," said Assam CM Himanta Sarma Biswa.


Earlier, ET reported that Champai is in discussions with the BJP leadership and is likely to join the party in the coming days.

Previously, Soren said that he felt a "blow to his self-respect" when he was asked to resign as Chief Minister of Jharkhand after the current CM, Hemant Soren, was released on bail.


In a clear indication that Champai Soren could quit the JMM, he said on X, formerly Twitter, "...After so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path. With a heavy heart, I said in the meeting of the legislative party that a new chapter of my life is going to start from today."

Also Read: "Aisa koi saga nahi jisko Hemant Soren ne thaga nahi": Shivraj Singh Chouhan after Champai hints at forming new party

"I had three options in this. First, to retire from politics, second, to form my own separate organization and third, if I find a companion on this path, then to travel further with him. From that day till today, and till the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, all options are open for me in this journey," Soren added.

Champai Soren's political journey

Champai Soren, who once tilled fields with his father in a remote village in Jharkhand's Saraikela-Kharsawan district, took oath as the chief minister on February 2, days after his predecessor Hemant Soren resigned, just before he was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case.

Hemant was released from jail on June 28 after the high court granted him bail, and on Wednesday, he was elected the party's legislature party leader. Champai submitted his resignation letter to the governor as chief minister to pave the way for Hemant Soren, who was sworn in as the chief minister for the third time.

Sixty-seven-year-old tribal leader Champai Soren has earned the sobriquet 'Jharkhand's Tiger' for his contribution to the long fight for the creation of a separate state in the 1990s. Jharkhand was created from the southern part of Bihar in 2000.

A matriculate from a government school, he started his political career by getting elected as an Independent MLA through a by-election from the Saraikela seat in undivided Bihar in 1991.

Four years later, he contested the assembly polls from the seat on the JMM ticket and defeated the BJP's Panchu Tudu. In the 2000 assembly elections, the first one held in the state, he was defeated from the same constituency by the BJP's Anant Ram Tudu.

He regained the seat in 2005 by defeating the BJP candidate by a margin of only 880 votes. Champai Soren won the subsequent elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.

When Hemant Soren formed his second government in the state in 2019, Champai Soren became the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Transport.

(with agency inputs)