Rebellion in Jharkhand’s first political family as Shibu Soren’s bahu Sita says goodbye to JMM

Ranchi, March 19: In a major jolt to Jharkhand’s first political family ahead of crucial Lok Sabha elections, Sita Soren, the elder bahu of JMM boss Shibu Soren, popularly known as Guruji, resigned from all party posts today. 

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Sita, the sitting MLA from Jama in Santhal Pargana, has also quit her Assembly membership.

Sita Soren is a three-time MLA and wife of Hemant’s elder brother, Durga Soren, who died at 39 in 2009.

Though the JMM has split several times, Sita’s exit is the first break in the Soren household.

Daughter to contest LS polls

Though she has not revealed her next plan, sources said that her daughter will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Dumka.

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Sita, a rebel

Over the past few years, Sita has raised eyebrows by posturing out of the party lines on multiple occasions. However, she kept low, hoping she would get her due from the JMM patriarch, Shibu Soren. 

Rising stature of Kalpana Soren

The latest issue that triggered her exit is said to have the rising stature of Kalpana Soren, the wife of Hemant Soren, in the Soren household. A few days back, Kalpana shared the dais with the INDI Alliance leaders in Mumbai. The party strategists showcased her speech in Mumbai to convey that Kalpana is the real boss in the party in the absence of Hemant Soren.

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Why the exit?

According to sources, Sita was not ready to accept Hemant Soren when he got the reins of the JMM in 2019. 

However, she accepted Hemant after the latter proved himself a leader. 

Cut to January 2024, Hemant Soren, facing imminent arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was all set to roll out his Plan B, making his wife Kalpana the leader. JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmed vacated the Gandey assembly seat for Kalpana.

However, Sita emerged as a challenger, forcing Hemant Soren to put plan B on hold and push the family feud into JMM’s first family under the carpet. Besides, there was also confusion over byelections in Gandey.

“Now, when Hemant Soren is behind bars, Kalpana Soren has been catapulted to be the face of the JMM even as she is yet to prove herself,” sources added.

According to sources, the fissures within the JMM’s first family widened after her claim to a berth in the Champai Soren cabinet was ignored.

Instead, the party leadership gifted it to Basant Soren, Guruji’s youngest son. She was soothed with the offer that her daughter would contest the Lok Sabha elections from Dumka, and she would contest the Assembly elections from Jama. 

But in the meantime, the JMM strategists, off the record, floated the idea that Hemant Soren might contest the Lok Sabha elections from Dumka. This idea is also said to have upset her no end.

“All these developments led her to conclude that she had no future in the JMM. Finally, on Tuesday, she wrote an emotional letter to Shibu Soren saying goodbye to the JMM,” said a source.

‘Sita cornered JMM govt in past, too

In April 2022, Sita Soren attacked Hemant Soren, alleging that the Jharkhand government had been ineffective in curbing the “loot of land” in the mineral-rich state.

“The vision of Guruji (Shibu Soren, JMM supremo) and my husband, Jal, Jungle, Jameen (water, forest and land), is being destroyed,” Sita Soren said. 

“Corrupt officers are being shielded. The people hoped from our government, but now they are disappointed,” added Sita.

Again, in September 2022, Sita penned an open letter to Shibu Soren, accusing JMM general secretary Vinod Pandey of hatching a conspiracy against her. 

Sita wrote, “Under Pandey’s instructions, JMM’s Chatra district president Pankaj Kumar Prajapati had issued a diktat asking party workers not to meet me. After this, all those who met me were charged with conspiracy and expelled.”

 The three-time Jama legislator also accused Pandey of usurping JMM’s headquarters by registering the property in his name. She claimed that a few within the party were working to make the outfit their pocket organisation.