Champai Soren joins BJP: 5 ex-CMs who rebelled and paid the price

Former Jharkhand CM Champai Soren being felicitated by Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and others as he joined BJP on August 30, 2024 in Ranchi. (Courtesy: PTI photo)

Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Ranchi in the presence of Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi.

Soren quit the JMM on August 28, claiming that the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government’s "present style of functioning and policies" forced him to leave the party. Ahead of joining BJP, Soren said he was joining the party "to save the existence of tribals".

The 67-year-old JMM tribal leader had earlier said that he felt “insulted” as the party deviated from its principles. Soren became the CM of Jharkhand on February 2, shortly after Hemant Soren resigned before being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

With his switch, ahead of the Jharkhand assembly elections expected to be held later this year, Soren joins a long list of former CMs rebelled against their own party over their alleged unceremonious removal from the post. None of them found much luck on the other side either.

Here's a look at 5 such CMs:

Amarinder Singh: Veteran Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down as Punjab chief minister in November 2021 after a massive feud with then state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. Singh, a close peer of late PM Rajiv Gandhi, was blindsided by the party high command’s decision to elect Sidhu as the state unit chief. This development came months before the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. Singh said he felt "humiliated" at the way he was treated by the Congress high command. He formed his own party called Punjab Lok Congress.

In the elections that followed in Punjab in 2022, Amarinder lost from his Patiala Urban constituency to the AAP rival. Later, Amarinder merged his PLC into BJP on September 19, 2022.

Narayan Rane: The Maratha leader, who had considerable influence in the coastal Konkan region, was picked by Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray as the chief minister. Rane replaced Manohar Joshi ahead of the 1999 assembly elections. However, he was expelled by Thackeray in July 2005 for “anti-party activities”. Rane went on to join the Congress in 2005 and quit in 2017. Rane said he had joined the Congress because he was assured that he would be made chief minister in six months. Rane launched the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha in October 2017.

In 2018, he declared support for BJP and was elected to the Rajya Sabha on that party's nomination. He went on to serve as the MSME minister in the second term of the Modi government but was dropped in the third term of the NDA government. A Lok Sabha member from the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency, Rane appears put of reckoning from the state’s politics.

Jitan Ram Manjhi: Hand-picked as the chief minister by Nitish Kumar following the Mahagathbandhan’s dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Manjhi resigned as the CM of Bihar in 2015 but not before putting up a stiff resistance and embarrassing the JD(U) chief. Manjhi was then ordered to prove his strength via a vote of confidence. Without enough MLAs to prove his majority, he resigned from the JD(U) and floated his own party Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular). In 2015, he allied with BJP and Lok Janshakti Party. In a surprising twist, Manjhi joined the Mahagathbandhan. But after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he returned to the NDA fold.

With 1 MP in the Lok Sabha, Manjhi’s HAM has one Cabinet post at the Centre. However, his relevance in the state has been restricted to one community, leaving him with little chance to see the kind of ascent he saw following the 2014 polls.

Jagadish Shettar: Appointed as the Karnataka CM in 2012 following BJP stalwart BS Yediyurappa’s exit, Shettar rebelled against the BJP in 2023 after the latter’s refusal to give him a ticket to contest the 2023 Assembly polls from the Hubballi-Dharwad Central.

Shettar went on to join the Congress in what was seen as a big setback for the BJP. However, he returned to the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and serves as an MP from the Belgaum constituency.

Vijay Bahuguna: He was chosen as the chief minister of Uttarakhand over Harish Rawat. Bahuguna, who was sworn-in on March 2012, was replaced in 2014 with Rawat by the Congress after the botched-up rescue operations by his government in the wake of the 2013 floods. An upset Bahuguna along with eight other Congress MLAs rebelled against the Harish Rawat government in 2016. They sought a division of votes when the Budget was presented.

While the Speaker refused their request, the rebels headed by Bahuguna, approached the Governor seeking a trust vote. It led to the imposition of the President's rule in the State. However, the Supreme Court intervened and re-instated the Harish Rawat government. Bahuguna and the rebels then joined the BJP. He currently holds no prominent position in the government.