Senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Champai Soren on Wednesday said he will not quit politics and hinted at forming a new political party, PTI reported.
“It is a new chapter of my life,” the former chief minister of Jharkhand said. “I won’t quit politics as I have received lots of love and support from my followers. I had mentioned three options: quitting politics, organisation or friend. The chapter [of quitting politics] has closed, I may form a new outfit.”
On Sunday, amid speculation that he could switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Assembly elections expected to take place later this year, Champai Soren had listed his three options.
He had said that he could either retire from politics, set up his own political organisation or “find a companion on this path, then to travel further with him”. Till the Assembly elections, “all options are open for me in this journey”, he had said.
Champai Soren’s statement had come hours after he denied reports that he was planning to join the Hindutva party.
On Wednesday, he said that he might join hands with any like-minded organisation or a friend. “I will strengthen the party, a new party and if I meet a good friend on the way, then I will move ahead with the friend…” he said in his native district, Seraikela-Kharsawan.
He will take a final decision on his course of action within a week, ANI quoted him as saying.

On Sunday, Champai Soren had also said that he felt insulted by the manner in which he was asked to step down as the chief minister in July, after 152 days in office, to make way for party leader Hemant Soren to return to the post.
Champai Soren had taken over as Jharkhand’s chief minister on February 2. This came after Hemant Soren resigned on January 31, hours before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case.
He resigned as the chief minister on July 3 after Hemant Soren was granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on June 28.
His comments on Sunday were related to a meeting of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Legislative Party on July 3 that had been called to formalise the change of guard, and the days leading up to it.
Champai Soren claimed that the party leadership had postponed his official programmes for two days in early July until the meeting took place on July 3.
The MLA from the Seraikella had said that he had been insulted. “After so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path,” he said.
The 67-year-old said: “With a heavy heart, I said in the same meeting of the Legislative Party that – ‘a new chapter of my life is going to start from today’. I had three options in this…”
The senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader also said that this was his “personal struggle” and that he neither intended to involve party members, nor hurt the organisation.
Without naming Champai Soren, Hemant Soren on Sunday accused the BJP of breaking away legislators from Opposition parties using the money power.
“They are busy breaking homes and dismantling political parties…” Hemant Soren said at a public rally. “Money is such a thing that it doesn’t take long for leaders to switch sides, but it’s alright… Our INDIA coalition government has been standing strong with the people since 2019.”
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level and is in alliance with the Congress in the state.