'I Am Where I Am': JMM's Champai Soren Reaches Delhi Amid Buzz of Joining BJP

Former Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren on Sunday dismissed the speculations of him switching sides and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Champai arrived in the national capital Delhi on Sunday afternoon accompanied by his personal staff, amid speculations of a possible BJP switch. He said that he came to Delhi for his personal work. “My Daughter leaves here  and I came here to meet her, I used to come Delhi on regular basis. Abhi hum jahan par hai, wahi par hai (We are where we are right now)”, he said while speaking to the reporters.

It was speculated that Champai along with six JMM MLAs— Chamra Linda, Dashrath Gagrai, Sameer Mohanty, Sukhram Uraon, Ramdas Soren, and Sanjeev Sardar, will join the saffron camp on Sunday.

While refuting the reports of him meeting West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, Champai said, “I have not met anyone. I have come here for personal work…”

Lobin Hembrom, former JMM MLA who fought as a rebel candidate in the Lok Sabha election, told a media organisation that Champai Soren is in touch with BJP leadership, adding that the time has come to oppose ‘parivarvaad’ or dynasty politics. Hembrom was recently disqualified as a JMM MLA under the anti-defection law.

This led to the speculation of Champai quitting the JMM. Slowly, the buzz snowballed into not just Champai, but Hembram as well as sitting minister Badal Patralekh too tipped to join the BJP in Delhi.

What fuelled the rumours is Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma praising Champai Soren. “In the last five years of JMM-Congress rule in Jharkhand, if any work has been accomplished it’s during the six-month tenure of Champai Soren as the Chief Minister,” he said.

However, the senior leader on Saturday refuted the rumours of him joining the BJP. Rejecting the reports, Champai said, “I don’t know what rumours are being spread. I don’t know what news is being run, so I cannot tell whether it’s true or not. I don’t know anything about it…Hum jahan par hain vahi par hain (I am here only)”.

The JMM leader was anointed to the top post after Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. Champai stepped down from the post on July 3 after Hemant Soren was granted bail by Jharkhand High Court.

According to some media reports, he was unhappy with the way he was unceremoniously removed from the Chief Minister’s post to make way for Hemant Soren to become CM again.

He complained in close quarters that he felt “insulted” by the way he was removed, say sources. He is a tribal leader who had always been a perpetual “chief minister-in-waiting”. He is an Adivasi by birth and a loyalist of the Soren family.