SERAIKELA: At 68, former Jharkhand CM and ex-JMM stalwart Champai Soren has chosen to go against his political guru Shibu Soren, whom he had rubbed shoulders with during the movement for Jharkhand statehood. He will now fight to stay relevant and save his legacy in the state’s political arena, especially in Kolhan region.
Known as “Kolhan Tiger” and considered JMM‘s undisputed face in the Kolhan region, Champai rebelled against JMM, claiming he was removed “unceremoniously” as CM on July 3 to make way for Hemant Soren. Champai willingly filled in for Hemant on Feb 2 this year after the latter was arrested by the ED and forced to resign.
Champai will now fight for his new party, BJP, which he had fought earlier to keep it away from the Kolhan region, home to 14 assembly segments of which nine are reserved for STs and SCs.
The game changed on Aug 30 this year, the day he joined BJP. He will now fight not only to secure his turf, Seraikela, which he has won six times since 1991, but to show the BJP brass that his sway over Kolhan can still provide other candidates in the region with victory. Seraikela, along with all other seats in Kolhan division, will vote on Nov 13. Champai is also working hard as he won Seraikela by a margin of a little over 15,000 votes in 2019.
Talking to TOI, Champai said, “I am not thinking too much about my political future but I have intensified campaigning. My association with voters for over 30 years will help me sail through.”
“I said whatever I needed to when I made up my mind to exit the party. But I always maintained that I was not going to hurt the party which I had been part of for so long while exiting it. I haven’t even taken a brick from that party while joining BJP, unlike others,” he said. “Now my focus is to look ahead. In all these years of my public life I have developed a personal rapport with the people of my constituency and beyond. I have full faith in the people here.” Champai is now among the voices raking up the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration and what BJP claims is the state’s changing demography, particularly in Santhal Pargana. JMM says the issue is a figment of BJP’s imagination, a line Champai had supported in the past. On his “deliberate silence on the issue all these years”, Champai said, “Dukh tab bhi hota tha, dil jalta tha. Baki aap samajhdar hain. (I was sad about this before too, the rest you can understand).”