RANCHI: Claiming that "injustice" was done to jailed Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, his successor Champai Soren on Tuesday said the ruling JMM will take a final call on the candidature of Kalpana Soren from the Gandey Assembly seat in a week.

Kalpana Soren is the wife of Hemant Soren, the executive president of the party. The decision whether Kalpana will be made the chief minister in case she contests and wins will lie with the JMM, Champai Soren, 68, told PTI in an exclusive interview here.

The by-poll for Gandey will be held on May 20, along with parliamentary elections in the state. The seat in Giridih district fell vacant after the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad and speculations are rife that Kalpana may be fielded from there.

"The JMM will take a final call in a week if Kalpana Soren will be fielded from the Gandey Assembly seat. If she contests and wins, the final decision on whether she will be made the chief minister will be taken by the party leaders, including president Shibu Soren, Hemant Soren and others," the CM said.

Kalpana Soren's political journey began at the 51st foundation day celebration of the JMM in Giridih district on March 4, when she claimed that a conspiracy had been orchestrated by opponents ever since the Hemant Soren-led coalition government came to power in 2019.

He claimed that a great injustice has been done to Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

“BJP-led forces may have succeeded in putting him behind bars but the tribals of Jharkhand will show the Bharatiya Janata Party the exit door in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls... We are more than confident of winning all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state," Champai Soren said.

In reply to a query about whether JMM will field Hemant Soren from the Dumka seat against BJP nominee Sita Soren, former three-term JMM MLA and elder daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, he said the party will take a call on this soon.

He dismissed Sita's allegations that she was subjected to neglect and isolation in JMM, saying the party made her MLA three times.

In a blow to the JMM, Sita joined the saffron party last month, alleging she and her family were neglected and isolated after her husband Durga Soren's demise in 2009.

From a humble farm worker, who tilled fields with his father in remote Jilingora village in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district, Champai Soren was sworn in as Jharkhand CM on February 2.

A loyalist of Shibu Soren, the former state transport minister is popularly known as “Jharkhand's tiger" for his contribution to the long fight for the creation of a separate Jharkhand state in the 1990s.