Jamshedpur’s Champai Soren set to be next Jharkhand CM as Hemant Soren quits

47 legislators meet Governor, assure support

Ranchi, Jan 31: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday went to the Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation to the Governor, while members of the ruling coalition were reaching there to stake claim for a new government to be headed by senior JMM leader Champai Soren .

Resident of Rajnagar in Seraikela-Kharsawan district near Jamshedpur Champai Soren is currently the Transport Minister.

The fast-paced developments came as the ED, which was questioning Hemant Soren at his residence since the afternoon in a money laundering case probe linked to an alleged land scam, informed him that it was arresting him as it was not satisfied with his answers to their queries.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary L. Khiangte, DGP Ajay Kumar Singh, and other top officials reached the CM’s residence and security there was tightened.

Indications of Heman Soren’s likely arrest came to be known from around 5 p.m. and the ruling coalition intensified its discussions to select his successor. Several MLAs were present at the CM’s house since morning.

A meeting on Tuesday evening of the JMM legislators, chaired by Hemant Soren, who returned to the state capital from New Delhi, had decided that in the event he was arrested, a new government should be formed under a new leader and an appointment was taken with the Governor on Wednesday night for this purpose.

Hemant Soren reached his Kanke Road residence at around 1:50 p.m on Tuesday along with a security guard amid uncertainty about his location.

The ED had been on the lookout for Soren in Delhi since Monday morning. They searched for him at several places including his Delhi residence and Jharkhand Bhawan, but he was not found.

“JMM MLAs elected Champai Soren to lead the state because Kalpana Soren may face the bypoll hurdle,” a source said. “Champai Soren, a trusted aide of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, has a clean image and enjoys popularity in the tribal community and closeness to Hemant Soren.”

 Earlier, Hemant Soren resigned as the chief minister after more than seven hours of questioning by the ED in a money laundering case.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam, Labour Minister Satyanand Bhokta, Champai Soren and legislators Pradeep Yadav and Vinod Kumar Singh were present with Soren when he tendered his resignation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan.

The governor said he has accepted the resignation of Hemant Soren.

 The JMM has 29 MLAs in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, while ally Congress has 17 and the RJD and the CPIML, which are also part of the government, have one MLA each, making a total of 48.

The BJP has 26 MLAs, while alliance partner AJSU has three. It also has the support of two independents.