Veteran tribal leader and former MP Hemlal Murmu has decided to leave the BJP and rejoin the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, arguing the BJP’s preoccupation with national politics tends to dilute its commitment to local interests and the “last person in the queue”.

The development is a jolt to the BJP’s plans to strengthen its base in the backward Santhal Pargana region, a traditional JMM turf, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, political analysts said.

Murmu, 70, who had spent four decades in the JMM serving as MLA, MP and state minister before joining the BJP in 2014, recently wrote to JMM president Shibu Soren expressing a desire to return, party spokesperson Vinod Pandey said.

“With Guruji (Soren) giving permission, we have decided to welcome him back on April 11, which is the birth anniversary of tribal martyrs Sidhu-Kanhu (leaders of the Santhal rebellion against the British),” he said.

Murmu told The Telegraph that he had joined the BJP before the 2014 general election after being impressed with its development and “sabka saath” pitch, thinking he could do more for thepeople if he were in a bigger party.

“I wanted to reach the last person in the queue and joined the BJP. But my wish did not seem to be fulfilled in the BJP,” he said.

“I could see (JMM chief minister) Hemant Soren’s efforts to reach the last mile in recent times. Tribal emotions are with the JMM, which is lacking in the BJP.”

Sources said Murmu had left in 2014 feeling sidelined in the JMM, but has since then lost the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections to the JMM’s Vijay Hansdah.

Murmu had earlier won the Barhait Assembly seat on a JMM ticket in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2009, while getting elected as MP from Rajmahal in 2004. He was twice appointed a state minister.

Murmu said he was disillusioned with the BJP culture. “In the BJP, plans are made keeping national politics in mind. You cannot have the same strategy for Haryana and Jharkhand,” he said.

“Party strategy should be attuned to local sentiments, which is being done under the leadership of Hemant Soren in Jharkhand.”

He added: “For 40 years I had been in the JMM. It’s a ghar wapsi (homecoming) for me.”

Ratan Tirkey, a tribal academic and former member of the state government’s tribal advisory council, said Murmu’s return would help the JMM in next year’s state and parliamentary elections.

“The BJP is going all out to widen its base in Santhal Pargana by trying to split the tribal vote. Hemlal Murmu’s return will consolidate the tribal vote to a large extent,” Tirkey said.

Faisal Anurag, a political columnist, said: “He (Murmu) has a strong personal vote bank, which was evident in the 2014 and 2019 elections when, despite losing, he had polled a considerable amount of votes.”

The BJP has been focused on Santhal Pargana, which accounts for 18 of the state’s 81 Assembly seats and 3 of its 14 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP now holds four Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats from the region.

Union home minister Amit Shah had held a party core committee meeting in Ranchi and camped in Deoghar in February, instructing the party apparatus to focus on strategies to wrest seats in Santhal Pargana.

Since then, BJP leaders have regularly been holding meetings in the various districts of Santhal Pargana.