Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, the son of Jharkhand architect Shibu Soren, is set to take up the reins of the state for a second term as the opposition coalition comprising the party, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal thumped the Bharatiya Janata Party by winning 47 seats in the 81-member assembly.
His first stint as chief minister of the tribal state had lasted for just about 14 months since July 15, 2013.
But this time, he -- with support from his allies Congress and the RJD -- has stopped the seemingly invincible BJP.
Hemant Soren had been the face of the opposition alliance in the state.
He was born to Shibu Soren, known as 'Guruji' to his innumerable followers, and his wife Roopi on August 10, 1975 at Nemra village in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand.
Soren senior, who has served as the state's chief minister thrice, had been grooming his elder son Durga Soren as his successor but fate had deemed otherwise.
Durga died of suspected kidney failure and Shibu Soren was convicted in the Chirrudih massacre case.
The situation turned the focus on Hemant, who was then entrusted with the responsibility of running the JMM.
It was only after 'Guruji' quit the Manmohan Singh cabinet, owing to his conviction, that Hemant emerged as the heir apparent of the 'Soren clan' and won the Dumka assembly seat in 2009.
He went on to become a Rajya Sabha Member in 2009-2010, before becoming Jharkhand's youngest chief minister in 2013 with the support of Congress and the RJD.
His rule was, however, short-lived as BJP seized power in 2014 in the politically unstable state and Raghubar Das took over.
In 2014, Hemant won a seat in the Jharkhand assembly and became the Leader of Opposition.
During his political ascendancy, he was able to sideline JMM's senior leaders like Stephen Marandi, Simon Marandi and Hemlal Murmu, prompting them to quit the party.
While Murmu and Simon Marandi joined the BJP, Stephen Marandi floated a party along with the first BJP chief minister of the state, Babulal Marandi.
Stephen Marandi had later returned to JMM, accepting Hemant as the party's leader.
Cornered in the last five years with the saffron party accusing him and his family of violating the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act,
Hemant took time but patiently overcame the storm and formed the pre-poll alliance with old friends -- the Congress and the RJD.
He also managed to get the lion's share of 43 seats, giving 31 to the Congress and seven to the the RJD in the pre-poll seat pact, even as the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led party was left frowning.
Hemant, who has two sons from his marriage with Kalpana, came under severe criticism from the BJP which accused him of nepotism for giving a ticket to his
sister Anjali from Odisha's Mayurbhanj seat in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.
