RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, 49, was appointed national president of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Tuesday after former chief minister Shibu Soren, 81, stepped down from the post to make space for his son.
Shibu Soren, who has been JMM’s national president since 1987, made the announcement at the party’s two-day national convention in Ranchi on Tuesday. He has been appointed as the party’s founder patron.
“The proposal of Guruji (Shibu Soren) being made the party’s founder patron was proposed by senior party leader and Dumka MP Nalin Soren, which was seconded by senior legislator Stephen Marandi. Then Guruji announced the appointment of Hemant ji as the new national president of the party, who was also authorised to form his new team of office bearers,” JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey said.
Hemant Soren, who had been the party’s executive president since 2015, had been overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the party in recent years.
“For all practical reasons, Hemant Soren has been our leader ever since he became the chief minister for the first time in 2013. Two years later he was also elevated as the party’s executive president. The two back-to-back victories (2019 and 2024) of the grand alliance led by Hemant Soren cemented his place as the party leader. However, Tuesday’s elevation wiped off any question of succession in the first family of the party as well,” a senior party leader said.
Hemant is the second of the three sons of Shibu Soren. His eldest son, Durga Soren, who was once considered the natural successor, passed away in 2009. His wife Sita Soren, four-term legislator, quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2024 national elections and unsuccessfully contested from the Dumka Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket.
Basant Soren, youngest son of Shibu Soren, is a two-term sitting legislator from Dumka assembly seat. He was on the stage on Tuesday when his father named Hemant Soren as the next party president.
Hemant Soren’s first election was to the Rajya Sabha when he became a member in June 2009, before he won his first assembly election from Dumka in the 2009 state elections. He became the state’s deputy chief minister when the JMM joined the NDA government led by BJP’s Arjun Munda.
However, the alliance broke in January 2013 and Hemant Soren became the chief minister for the first time in September 2013 and continued to hold the post till November 2014 when the NDA came back to power.
After remaining the leader of opposition for five years, the Hemant Soren-led alliance of the JMM-Congress-RJD wrested power, with the JMM emerging as the single largest party for the first time in the state with 30 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly in 2019.
Despite setbacks including arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and former chief minister Champai Soren crossing over to the BJP, the alliance returned back to power with a two-third majority.
