Ranchi: Discord has erupted in the Jharkhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it lost all five seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Lok Sabha elections. Sita Soren, who lost the election from Dumka, has targeted the state leadership and several individual leaders with serious allegations.
She alleged on 16 June that although the ground-level cadre supported her, several more senior leaders betrayed her and worked to ensure victory for the opposition candidates.
The leaders she has named have denied the allegations. They emphasised their long years of work for the BJP — in contrast to Soren, who joined it only in March — cited grassroots discontent caused by her candidature and said she hadn’t understood the party’s culture.
Soren, the daughter-in-law of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) patriarch Shibu Soren, had defected to the BJP while accusing the JMM leadership of neglecting her and her family after the death of her husband, Durga Soren. After this, the BJP fielded her as its candidate in Dumka — replacing then sitting MP Sunil Soren — but she lost to JMM candidate Nalin Soren by 22,527 votes in a prestige battle.
Soren’s accusations aren’t the only instance of BJP infighting in the wake of the general elections — there was a commotion at a review meeting held by the state unit to discuss her defeat, with workers accusing several leaders of neglecting their duties. Another meeting saw a fight break out between supporters of Godda MP Nishikant Dubey and Deoghar MLA Narayan Das.
Political analysts have noted that this dissension has broken out at a crucial phase when the BJP faces a tough battle with the ruling JMM-Congress combine in the state assembly elections, due to be held in November-December this year. After the BJP’s whitewash in tribal seats in the Lok Sabha polls, the top leadership has been concerned about the state.
The party has begun its preparations for the assembly polls. On Monday, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was made election in-charge for Jharkhand while Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was made co-in-charge.
After this, a meeting of the Jharkhand BJP’s core committee was held in Delhi Tuesday. Chaired by BJP national president J.P. Nadda, the meeting was also attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national general secretary B.L. Santhosh and Sarma, as well as key leaders from Jharkhand.
Sarma expressed confidence after the meeting, telling reporters, “We are going to form our government in Jharkhand.” But he also emphasised the need for collective effort and adherence to the party’s strategic direction.
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Sita Soren’s allegations
Speaking to ThePrint, Soren alleged that former state minister Lois Marandi, the BJP’s Dumka Lok Sabha convener and Sarath MLA Randhir Singh, former MP Sunil Soren and the district presidents of Dumka and Jamtara had betrayed her.
“All of them were standing with me in public but were backstabbing me. Lois Marandi distributed money supposedly on my behalf from her side to ensure my defeat. During the elections, I kept giving hints to state leadership from time to time that the poll was being mismanaged.”
She added, “Many of them had secret meetings with a JMM minister. State general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Varma has failed to fulfil the responsibility given to him for the Dumka seat. During the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Pradip Varma did more harm than good to party candidate Geeta Koda who contested from Singhbhum.”
JMM leader and former state minister Joba Majhi defeated Koda by 1,68,402 votes. Singhbhum went to polls on 13 May.
Soren said that the ruckus that took place in the review meeting in Dumka on 15 June was an example of the mismanagement in the state party. Those who worked honestly in the elections were expressing their anger against “traitors”, she added.
According to Soren, a group of workers created a ruckus as soon as the meeting started, saying many leaders, including the district presidents of Dumka and Jamtara had not carried out their responsibilities properly. They also brought up failures in booth management.
Asked if she would leave the party, Soren said, “I will stay with the BJP and teach the betrayers a lesson in the interest of the party.”
She also said that her daughter, Rajshree Soren, would contest from the Jama constituency in the upcoming assembly elections. The BJP has not officially announced any candidates so far.
Soren herself had won the assembly elections from Jama thrice: in 2009, 2014, and 2019.
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‘She should first understand BJP family’
When contacted, all the BJP leaders named by Soren denied her allegations.
Former minister Marandi said, “We worked day and night during the elections. It has been only four days since Sita Soren joined the BJP, and she is distributing certificates of betrayal and treachery.”
MLA Randhir Singh said Soren had got the majority of the votes from Sarath, his assembly segment, which is part of the Dumka Lok Sabha constituency. “The party will look into this matter,” he added.
Former Dumka MP Sunil Soren emphasised that he had been a “BJP soldier” for 20 years and said that he campaigned “loyally” in both the Rajmahal and Dumka seats after being replaced as the candidate in the latter.
He added that Sita Soren’s allegations didn’t align with the BJP’s “work culture”. “She should first understand the BJP family and work culture; otherwise, she won’t be allowed to enter Dumka. The party leadership should take cognisance and initiate appropriate action.”
State general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Varma said Soren shouldn’t make such allegations in the public domain. “If there is any issue, she should tell the leaders or party forum with facts.”
“We are hurt by the allegations made by Sita Soren. Sita Soren should first understand the BJP. If there is anything in her mind, she should inform the party leadership. She is blaming several leaders. This is not good,” Dumka District President Gaurav Kant said.
According to Jamtara District President Sumit Sharan, Sita Soren’s allegations are “painful” for them. He said that she should present her views in the party forum. “Secondly, if there is any evidence of betrayal, then that too should be made public. The orders and directions of the party are paramount to us. No matter who the candidate is, we work hard for them. This time too, we worked with complete loyalty.”
‘Discord a natural reaction of cadres’
All this was bound to happen as the party had ignored the sentiments of grassroots-level workers, according to a BJP functionary who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“When strategists or key leaders go on tour or campaign during elections, they stay in luxury hotels and issue orders to ground-level workers. With the results of the Lok Sabha elections, the game of graffiti has begun for the assembly elections. If the state leadership does not handle these things on time, the challenges will increase,” said the functionary.
Dumka falls in the Santhal Pargana division. This and another tribal-dominated division, Kolhan, account for 32 assembly seats between them and are crucial to gain power in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly. In 2019, the BJP had won only 4 seats in these regions.
Political analyst Chandan Mishra said, “The discord that has emerged in Santhal Pargana division can also be seen as a natural reaction of the cadres. There was resentment among the party cadres due to the work style of some key strategists. The BJP, which has been preparing for elections for a long time, has failed to reach out (to people) at the ground level. Sunil Soren’s supporters were also disappointed owing to the replacement of his candidature.”
He added that Sita Soren should present her views at a party forum. “If the situation continues like this, the party may face a challenge in the assembly elections. Anyway, the BJP’s hold in the Santhal Pargana region has weakened.”
Chaos in Deoghar review meeting as well
A review meeting was held in Deoghar on 18 June to discuss the results in the Godda Lok Sabha constituency, and a commotion arose there, too. BJP MP Dubey had retained this seat with a margin of 101813 votes.
A fight broke out between supporters of Dubey and Deoghar MLA Das. Deogarh is a part of the Godda Lok Sabha constituency. Das alleged that Dubey’s supporters abused and insulted him.
Speaking to ThePrint, Das said, “Several supporters of Nishikant Dubey, who are not even members of the party, misbehaved and made baseless allegations. If the organisation didn’t support Dubey in the election, how did he become an MP for the fourth time?”
Das alleged that he received such treatment because he is a Dalit.
Dubey wrote on X Monday that he had been admitted to hospital for two days and wouldn’t be able to speak to anyone until 20 June. The next day, BJP workers and Dubey’s supporters held a march against Das.
ThePrint reached Dubey but he said that he could not talk because he was not well.
Meanwhile, the Dalit Ekta Manch held a procession in support of Das and said Dalits would not tolerate insults to an MLA from the community.
Speaking about the conflicts, Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi, before leaving for the party’s core committee meeting in New Delhi, told reporters that such “small things” could happen in any “family”, and they would soon be settled.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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