Former JMM CM Champai Soren joins BJP

way2barak, 30 Aug : Champai Soren joined the BJP in Ranchi, giving a boost to the saffron camp’s efforts to woo the scheduled tribes community in Jharkhand, set to go to polls later this year.

Soren served as chief minister of Jharkhand for four months in the absence of Hemant Soren, who had resigned on January 31 ahead of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The 67-year-old leader, said to be close to JMM founder Shibu Soren, was asked to step down as CM after Hemant Soren was granted bail by the Jharkhand high court in June.

“I have never imagined that I would quit JMM, a party which is like a family to me… The turn of events of the past forced me to make this decision with much pain…I am pained to say that the party has deviated from its principle,” Soren had written on Wednesday.Justifying his decision to join BJP, Champai Soren had alleged that tribal identity and existence is “at stake in the state’s Santhal Pargana region due to “rampant” infiltration from Bangladesh”.

“Champai Soren was put under surveillance by Jharkhand police for six months. I have never heard of such an instance by any CM. I warn you (Chief Minister Hemant Soren), we will give a befitting reply after two months,” Sarma, the co-incharge for BJP in Jharkhand, added.