After LS miss, Hemant back to lead alliance

Ranchi: After a five-month jail term in a land scam case kept him away from canvassing during the Lok Sabha poll earlier this year, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren is back in the saddle as the INDIA bloc’s spearhead for campaigning in the state assembly elections scheduled next month.
Hemant’s incarceration helped JMM whip up sentiments among the electorate in the Lok Sabha polls.As its result, the INDIA bloc bettered its performance from 2019 as the seat tally of JMM and Congress went up from two to five in 2024. Now, with JMM having positioned itself as the bigger party among the two, Hemant is slated to be the bloc’s CM face yet again.
“The electorate of Jharkhand were angry with the BJP for a host of issues during Lok Sabha polls including inflation, unemployment among others. For the Adivasis and Moolvasis, Hemant’s imprisonment only added fuel to the fire. But now that he is out and back in office, the alliance will be contesting the elections based on the good work the coalition govt has done under him. Hemant is the face of INDIA bloc in this election,” Congress spokesperson Rakesh Kumar Sinha told TOI.
During Hemant’s absence, his wife Kalpana and the then CM Champai Soren canvassed for JMM and the INDIA bloc as its star campaigners. “Kalpana will assume the role of a star campaigner this time as well. She spearheaded the Maiyya Samman Yatra along with minister Bebi Devi. This particular people connect program has been very successful and has witnessed overwhelming turnouts in rural areas. But this time, the campaigning will revolve around Hemant,” a senior JMM functionary, who is a member of the central committee, told TOI.
Last month, the JMM vehemently opposed the Congress party’s idea to have a rotational CM from both the parties who would hold office for 2.5 years each. JMM even threatened to go solo in the elections like it did in 2014. “There is no doubt that we will lead this election as the big brother. Hemant Soren is our CM face and the face of the alliance as well,” JMM spokesperson Vinod Kumar Pandey said.