Ranchi: Ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections, former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's sister-in-law Sita Soren joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, March 19, after she snapped all ties with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha earlier in the day. 

She joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of its national general secretary Vinod Tawde and Jharkhand poll in-charge Laxmikant Bajpai. Earlier in the day, Sita Soren had resigned from the primary membership of the party founded by her father-in-law Shibu Soren. 

Sita Soren was a sitting MLA from Jama, however, she quit the post following her resignation from the JMM. 

Sita Soren Alleges Conspiracy Against Her Family 

In her resignation letter addressed to the party's supremo and her father-in-law, Shibu Soren, Sita expressed her grievances, stating that following the demise of her husband, Durga Soren, the party failed to provide adequate support to her and her family. 

Sita Soren alleged that she was neglected in the party and therefore she decided to tender her resignation from the primary membership of the party.

“Since the demise of my late husband Durga Soren, who was a leading warrior of the Jharkhand movement and a great revolutionary, me and my family have been victims of continuous neglect. We have been isolated by the party and family members, which has been extremely painful for me. I had hoped that the situation would improve with time, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen,” said Sita Soren in her resignation letter. 

"The tireless efforts of Shri Shibu Soren, who worked hard to keep us all together, unfortunately, also failed. I have become aware of a conspiracy being orchestrated against me and my family... I am left with no choice but to tender my resignation,” she said in the letter.

Rift Within Soren Family 

Earlier, a rift in the Soren family had surfaced after she had openly opposed any move to make Kalpana Soren, wife of Hemant Soren, who is behind bars in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, as chief minister. After the arrest of Hemant Soren, the executive president of the JMM, Sita Soren had strongly opposed any move to make his wife the CM.

"I would like to ask why only Kalpana Soren, who is not even an MLA and has no political experience. Under what circumstances her name is doing the rounds as the next chief minister when there are so many senior leaders in the party." “If they want to elect from the family, I am the seniormost and have been an MLA for around 14 years," Sita Soren had then said. 

Sita Soren's late husband Durga Soren was the apparent heir of Shibu Soren's legacy, but the party was handed over to Hemant after Durga's demise. After his demise, Sita thought of herself as a successor of the party strengthened by her husband. She has underlined the issue time and again. Sita's family has floated Durga Soren Sen to claim the legacy. 

JMM Responds to Sita Soren

“I think, when someone has to go somewhere (to another party), they have to give some reason. Not everyone is Pashupati Kumar Paras who submitted a 3-line resignation letter and thanked them. But the manner in which the BJP did a 'use and throw' with him tells the real 'chaal-charitra-chehra' of the BJP. They pick up whenever they need someone,” said JMM General Secretary and Spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya on Sita Soren's resignation.