‘Kolhan Tiger’ Champai Soren's Big Leap to Jharkhand CM’s Chair: All About ‘Shibu’s Yes-man’

Amid the drama over the action against Hemant Soren, Champai Soren – the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader known as ‘Kolhan’ or ‘Jharkhand Tiger’ and even “Shibu Soren’s yes-man” – became the 12th Chief Minister of Jharkhand, as he took the oath on Friday. Although the 12th CM, Champai became the seventh person to take oath, as the previous CMs have served multiple terms.

The 67-year-old six-time MLA is said to be a reliable leader, one of the closest to Shibu, who took part in the tribal movements in the 1990s and always stood by his side to demand the formation of Jharkhand.

After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Hemant Soren on charges of money laundering, the Legislature party proposed the name of Champai as their leader on January 31. In his third attempt, he managed to convince Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan to call him to swear-in as the chief minister. In his letter to the Governor sent on February 1 to seek time for a meeting, he had submitted a letter of support of 43 MLAs.

At 5.30pm on February 1, Champai, along with four other MLAs of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), went to meet the Governor and it is said that he showed a video of 43 MLAs. This was done to convince the Governor that all 43 MLAs were still with them and he had the majority, surpassing the required figure of 41. The Governor called Champai and Alamgir Alam at 11.15pm on Thursday.

Along with Champai, Congress senior leader and ex-Rural Development minister Alamgir Alam took the oath on Friday. The Rashtriya Janata Dal’s only MLA and ex-Labour minister Satyanand Bhogta also took oath as a minister. The floor test is expected on February 5.

All you need to know about Champai Soren:

• Champai started his political career after he was elected as an independent MLA through a by-election from the Saraikela seat in 1991. He was elected as an MLA from Saraikela in undivided Bihar in 1995.
• After Jharkhand was separated from Bihar in November 2000, Champai became a legislator from Saraikela in Jharkhand on a JMM ticket in 2005.
• Since then, he has served as the Cabinet Minister of Transport, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste & Backward Class Welfare, Food Supplies, Science and Technology, Labour and Housing.

12th CM, BUT ONLY 7th LEADER TO TAKE OATH

In the past, six leaders have served as the CM of Jharkhand since its formation in 2000.

While the first CM, Babulal Marandi, and his successor Madhu Koda got one tenure each, Shibu Soren and his successor Arjun Munda served as the CM for three tenures each. They were followed by Raghubar Das (one tenure) and Hemant Soren who served as the CM twice.

So far, only Raghubar Das has completed his term of five years as the CM (2014-2019).

CURRENT STATUS OF JHARKHAND ASSEMBLY

Of the total 81 constituencies, a look at where the UPA and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stand:

UPA

• JMM: 29
• CONGRESS: 17
• RJD: 1
• CPIML: 1
• Total: 48 (Champai claims 47 are in his support)

NDA

• BJP: 26
• AJSU: 3
• NCP: 1
• Independent- 1 (Amit Yadav supports NDA)
• Total: 31 (Another Independent Saryu Rai hasn’t cleared his stand (Vacant: 1, Nominated: 1)