Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren leaves JMM before the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Ahead of the impending Lok Sabha elections, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Sita Soren announced her resignation from the party on Tuesday, marking a significant political shift in Jharkhand. Notably, Hemant Soren, the former chief minister of Jharkhand and working president of JMM, is the sister-in-law of Sita.
In addition, Sita Soren resigned as an MLA.

She also tendered her resignation as the Jama Assembly constituency’s MLA. Sita grieved that the party had not given her and her family enough assistance when her husband, Durga Soren, passed away. She said this in her resignation letter to Shibu Soren, the party head, and her father-in-law. “I’ve learned that my family and I are the target of a conspiracy. All I can do now is submit my resignation,” she murmured.

The resignation letter from Sita Soren.
A rift in Soren’s lineage
News of a split in Soren’s family over the previous two to three months has surfaced. Sita, the widow of previous chief minister Shibu Soren’s oldest son Durga, had publicly rejected any attempt earlier in January to name Kalpana, Hemant Soren’s wife, as the state chief minister. The protest at the time was prompted by persistent reports, according to the BJP, that Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana would be the first candidate to become Chief Minister should her husband be taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case.

Senior JMM leader Champai Soren was subsequently named Jharkhand’s Chief Minister after Hemant Soren’s incarceration. On February 2, he took the oath of office as Jharkhand’s chief minister. The 67-year-old tribal chieftain took the oath of office as the state’s 12th chief minister.

The money laundering case of Hemant Soren
It should be noted that Hemant Soren was taken into custody by the ED on January 31 in relation to a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that was connected to an alleged land fraud case. After being questioned by the investigative agency in the suspected land fraud case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, he submitted his resignation as chief minister to the governor of Jharkhand. The ED had earlier said that it had taken over Rs 36 lakh in cash and documents related to the probe into the purported ‘fraudulent techniques’ of acquiring property from the JMM chairman.