Hemant Soren, once unlikely successor, is new Jharkhand Chief Minister

RANCHI: Hemant Soren, the bespectacled son of Shibu Soren who is now heading the ninth government in Jharkhand, remained in the shadow of his brother Durga, considered the heir apparent to the JMM chief, for long.

It was Durga who was considered the natural successor to Shibu Soren but his death a few years ago pushed his younger bother Hemant to the centre stage of state politics.

Hemant had till then remained on the sidelines and was defeated by then JMM leader Stephen Marandi, now in the Congress, in the 2005 assembly elections in the Dumka seat.

In May 2009 Durga died and the same year in December Hemant won the seat in the assembly polls.

Prior to this, he had a brief stint in the Rajya Sabha. 37-year-old Hemant became deputy chief minister when Arjun Munda headed a coalition of the BJP/JMM/JDU/Ajsu party on September 11, 2010.

He grew up seeing his father Shibu Soren fighting for a separate state, being accused of bribery, becoming the coal minister at the Centre only to quit following warrants, being convicted on a murder charge before being acquitted and his struggle to prolong his chief ministerial terms despite getting the opportunity thrice.

Hemant now heads the ninth government in just under 13 years in the state.

Hemant was born on August 10, 1975 to Shibu Soren and Roopi at Nemra village in Ramgarh district.

His close aides claim he has completed mechanical engineering, but he submitted his educational qualification as intermediate pass when he filed nominations papers for both the 2005 and 2009 assembly polls.

Hemant has two sons from his wife Kalpana. He has a has a younger brother, Basant, and a sister, Anjali.