Ranchi, May 6 (IANS) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) general secretary Hemant Soren handed over his letter of resignation from the state assembly to his father and Chief Minister Shibu Soren Thursday, a party source said.

Hemant is legislator from the Dumka assembly constituency.

Shibu Soren is planning to fight the assembly bypoll as he has to become a member of the state assembly before June 30 to fulfil a constitutional obligation. At present he is Lok Sabha member from Dumka parliamentary constituency.

Soren Wednesday reportedly spoke to jailed former Maoist leader and JMM legislator Poulush Surin to quit the Torpa assembly seat to facilitate him to fight the assembly poll.

Surin will arrive in Ranchi Friday to hand over his resignation letter to Soren.

"Soren will decide from which seat he wants to fight the assembly poll. There is consensus within the party that he should fight from Dumka assembly seat," a JMM leader told IANS.

The JMM leader said Soren would decide about fighting the bypoll after getting a green signal from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is stepping up its pressure on the chief minister to quit from his post.

"Soren will fight the bypoll only if the BJP agrees to have him continue as chief minister," he added.

On May 1, the BJP asked JMM to ensure letters of support of all 18 legislators of the party to make way for a BJP-led government in the state.