Sita Soren, the Badi Bahu (elder daughter-in-law) of the first family of ruling JMM in Jharkhand triggered a revolt after she tendered her resignation from the party as well as a member of the Jharkhand assembly on Tuesday.
Sita, who is Durga Soren’s widow (eldest son of JMM chief Shibu Soren) in her resignation letter, said that she was continuously neglected and conspired against within the party and the family.
“I tried to cope and expected the situation to change. But nothing changed, rather things worsened,” said Sita Soren, who is also the sister-in-law of former CM Hemant Soren.
While power struggle is not a new thing in the Soren family, this is the first case where a member of the family revolted and joined the rival camp.
This is a big gain for the BJP in Jharkhand, both politically and psychologically.
This has come at a time when the JMM and the Soren family have been facing their worst-ever crisis. The former CM and de facto boss of the party, Hemant Soren, is in jail and party patriarch Shibu Soren is too old to campaign in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The message has gone out loud that the Sorens is a divided house that can’t do justice to the widow of their family.
What immediately triggered her departure — sources in the JMM confided — she was not happy with the way the Chhoti Bahu of the family Kalpana Soren (wife of Hemant Soren) was projected as the face of the JMM.
Hemant Soren wants his wife to lead the party in his absence and accordingly, she is being projected from billboards to political meetings.
The way Kalpana Soren started making public appearances and tried to connect with people through emotional speeches about the arrest of her husband, the BJP was looking for a powerful female to counter her.
Luckily, they got Sita Soren who had lost confidence in the party and the family.
“So Badi Bahu is now on our side to counter Chhoti Bahu in the poll campaign. Hemant Soren has looted resources of the state and he is one of the worst Parivarvwadi in the INDI fold,” a senior BJP leader said.
Hemant Soren served as the Chief Minister of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance in Jharkhand. But he had to resign following his arrest in January this year in a money laundering case.
Hemant Soren had planned to appoint Kalpana Soren as CM for which he even arranged an assembly seat so that Kalpana Soren could be elected, but the plan could not materialise due to a protest from Sita Soren.
Ultimately, Hemant Soren had to pick Champai Soren for the chief ministerial post, while Sita Soren had expected a ministerial berth.
Ignoring her seniority, Basant Soren, the youngest son of Shibu Soren was promoted to a ministerial post.
Sita Soren got nothing despite being a senior in the party and the family.
Right after her resignation, Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Nath Shahdeo posted a cryptic tweet that ‘Sita just got liberated from Lanka’ fueling speculations about her joining the BJP.
Afterwards, Sita Soren joined the BJP in Delhi thus twisting the political scenario in Jharkhand.
It will be interesting to see how nicely the BJP uses this political asset of the Shibu Soren family who crossed the tense battle line at a time when the schedules for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have been announced.
Her joining has triggered many possibilities for the BJP to exploit. The party may field her either from Dumka or Rajmahal Lok Sabha seats which are the strongholds of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
BJP’s Sunil Soren won the Dumka seat in 2019 by defeating JMM patriarch Shibu Soren whereas Vijay Hansda retained the Rajmahal seat.
There is a possibility that Hemant Soren who is the second son of the JMM patriarch may contest from Dumka.
Though the BJP has announced the candidature of Sunil Soren, the possibility can’t be ruled out that the party may reconsider its decision to field Sita Soren.
If that happens, then it will not be just a political battle between the JMM and the BJP, but a scuffle in the Soren family.
However, over the past few years three-time MLA from the Nala assembly seat, Sita Soren, has aired her disappointment and openly said that she was sidelined in the party and the family.
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