AICC executive committee member Dr Ajoy Kumar on Thursday said JMM leader Hemant Soren will be the face of the INDIA bloc in the assembly poll in Jharkhand due to be held later this year.
Soren, son of JMM supremo Shibu Soren, was sworn in as the Jharkhand chief minister in Ranchi for the third time during the day after senior JMM leader Champai Soren resigned as CM on Wednesday.
“The change of guard in Jharkhand would not affect the prospect of the INDIA bloc at all in the assembly election. In fact, we will do much better than the 2019 polls,” Kumar told PTI.
The Congress is a member of the JMM-led ruling coalition in Jharkhand. Another INDIA bloc constituent RJD is also part of the alliance.
“Sending Hemant Soren to jail without any evidence for five months peeved the Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes and general caste people,” Kumar claimed.
Hemant Soren was released from jail on June 28 after the high court granted him bail in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He had resigned as the CM shortly before his arrest on January 31 by the ED.
Asked whether consent was reached among ruling coalition members over contesting the assembly polls under Hemant Soren's leadership, the senior Congress leader asserted that there is hardly any difference of opinion over the issue.
“The change of guard was possible following the unanimity of MLAs as well as coalition partners,” he claimed. Leaders and MLAs of the ruling coalition at a meeting unanimously decided to elect Hemant Soren as the JMM legislature party leader. Following the development, Champai Soren resigned as the chief minister and Hemant replaced him.
There is no scope for opposition to make it an issue before the election as Champai Soren had already made it clear that Hemant and JMM supremo Sibu Soren are his leaders.
The BJP has been claiming that tribal leaders outside Sibu Soren’s family have no political future in JMM.
“The situation has turned bad for the Jharkhand BJP as people have rejected the leadership of Babulal Marandi. He will have a tough task to save his seat,” Kumar claimed.
Marandi is the BJP’s Jharkhand unit president and a former chief minister.
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