Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Lobin Hembrom put his party in the dock after announcing his decision to contest the Lok Sabha election as an Independent against his party’s official candidate from the Rajmahal seat.
Mr. Hembrom, who represents the Borio Assembly constituency in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district, is the second MLA who has put the JMM in an embarrassing position. Last month, Sita Soren, daughter-in-law of JMM founder Shibu Soren had quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is now contesting from the Dumka seat against the JMM candidate Nalin Soren.
Mr. Hembrom has embarrassed his party in the past as well; he had earlier spoken against then Chief Minister Hemant Soren alleging that nothing was done for the tribals in the State.
“Many people in the party advised me to meet Kalpana Soren [Hemant Soren’s wife] for the ticket. But why should I meet her? What is she at the party? I had met Basant Soren and even he was not in favour of giving ticket to Vijay Hansda,” Mr. Hembrom said while addressing the media at his official residence in Ranchi on April 10.
“The present condition of Vijay Hansda is not good in Rajmahal, so on the call of the people, I will be contesting the elections as an Independent candidate and will win,” he added.
Mr. Hembron explained that before reaching out to the decision of contesting Lok Sabha from Rajmahal, he talked to senior leaders of the JMM, including Chief Minister Champai Soren, senior leader Nalin Soren, and Stephen Marandi.
Asked about going against the party line, Mr. Hembram said, “I am not a rebel, the rebel is the JMM which has betrayed the public’s trust. I always worked and followed the ideology of JMM and Shibu Soren.”
The rebel JMM MLA also said that his victory from Rajmahal is certain, and added that Mr. Hansda will be a third following the BJP candidate Tala Marandi’s second position.
Mr. Hembram also said, “After the death of Durga Soren, his younger brother Hemant Soren became the Chief Minister. Similarly when Hemant Soren has gone to jail the youngest brother Bansant Soren should have become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand.”
Rajmahal will vote in the seventh phase on June 1.
JMM sources said that once Mr. Hembrom files the nomination as an independent candidate, the party leadership would be forced to take action against him.
Jharkhand has a total 14 Lok Sabha seats. In 2019, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 12 seats while one each was won by the JMM and the Congress.
