Shibu Soren, Hemant, Kalpana among star campaigners of JMM for Lok Sabha polls

RANCHI: JMM supremo Shibu Soren, his son Hemant and daughter-in-law Kalpana, and chief minister Champai Soren were among 40 star campaigners of the party for the Lok Sabha polls, a party leader said on Saturday. According to a list submitted to the chief electoral officer of Jharkhand, Shibu Soren will lead the campaign in Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.

The list also includes Bishunpur MLA Chamra Linda, who filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate for Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat by going against the party's wish. The seat went to the Congress in the seat-sharing agreement in the ruling alliance in the state.

Besides, former chief minister Hemant Soren's press advisor Abhishek Prasad Pintu, who recently faced ED questioning in a money laundering investigation linked to alleged illegal mining and land deals in the state, also found a place in the list of star campaigners.

The list mentions Hemant Soren, who is behind bars, as the second prominent campaigner after the party supremo.

Soren, who is currently lodged at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam on January 31.

His wife Kalpana, who is contesting the by-election to the Gandey assembly constituency, has also been included in the list as a prominent campaigner for the Lok Sabha polls, which will be held in four phases in Jharkhand from May 13.