Won’t quit politics, open to floating party, says former Jharkhand CM
Ranchi, August 21
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren on Wednesday said he would not quit politics, asserting that an option to float a new political outfit was always open to him.
Soren said he was firm on his plans after “facing humiliation at the hands of JMM leaders”, a party to which the veteran leader claimed that he had “devoted his entire life”.
“It is a new chapter of my life. I won’t quit politics as I have received lots of love and support from my followers. I had mentioned three options — quitting politics, organisation or friend. I will not quit politics. The chapter of quitting politics has closed, I may form a new outfit,” the senior JMM leader said shortly after he reached his ancestral Jhilingora village in Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
The 67-year-old tribal leader has earned the nickname “Jharkhand’s Tiger” for his contribution to the fight to create a separate state in the 1990s. Jharkhand was carved out of the southern part of Bihar in 2000.
“No one from JMM contacted me. This is the land of Jharkhand. I have struggled since my student life. I participated in the agitation for a separate Jharkhand state under the leadership of party supremo Shibu Soren,” Champai said.
The JMM leader said he might join hands with any outfit if he gets a like-minded organisation or a friend during his next journey. “I will strengthen the party, a new party and if I meet a good friend on the way, then I will move ahead with the friend,” he said.
Referring to his post on X on August 18, the former CM said: “I posted what I felt was proper. The entire country is aware of what I thought.”
Amid speculations that he might join the BJP, the veteran politician had said he experienced “bitter humiliation” as chief minister, which compelled him to seek an alternative path.
Champai Soren assumed office as the 12th CM of Jharkhand on February 2, shortly after his predecessor Hemant Soren resigned just before being arrested by the ED in a money laundering case.
Hemant was released from jail on June 28 after being granted bail by the high court. On July 3, he was elected as the JMM’s legislature party leader.
