JMM chief Hemant Soren led a three-party alliance with the Congress and RJD to a spectacular victory over the BJP in the just-concluded assembly polls in the mineral-rich state. On Sunday, Soren, 44, was sworn in as the chief minister of the tribal state. He speaks about the preparations that went into the victory, the challenges ahead and how he intends to go about his business. Excerpts from an interview with Preetha Nair…
How did you manage to lead the alliance to victory despite its complexities?
It’s a fact that we fought against a mighty political force like BJP, which has huge manpower and money power. But one needs to understand that everything cannot be achieved by money and power. That way, we would have never defeated the British. The BJP has taken it too far and people couldn’t take it anymore.
Despite the washout in the last LS polls, you didn’t lose hope…?
We started groundwork for the assembly elections...
