Jharkhand: Classy MLA looks to dazzle Hazaribagh electorate

RANCHI: He is just 34 and probably the only MLA in Jharkhand assembly who can speak English with an accent. Having studied in Modern School, New Delhi and then Doon School and later MBA from an Austalian University, this young man is like a breath of fresh air in the dusty poll circuit of the state.

Meet Saurabh Narayan Singh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Hazaribagh constituency against BJP���s stalwart and former union external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, is also a good friend of Rahul Gandhi, who was his senior in the Doon School.

Saurabh, grandson of Kamakhya Narayan Singh, also known as Padma Raja, ruler of the erstwhile Ramgarh Kingdom, came to limelight when he first defeated another state level BJP veteran Dev Dayal Kushwaha in 2005 to become MLA for the first time when he was just 30. Though he is not considered as a firebrand leader, even leaders of other parties regard him as a soft-spoken young man, who has a class of his own. Saurabh, an alumni of the Doon School, Dehra Doon, joined the Congress in 2004.

After completing his graduation (B.Com) from Dayal Singh College, New Delhi, in 1996, Saurabh went to Australia to complete his MBA for Western Australia University. After finishing the course in 1998, he returned to India to join Citibank in New Delhi.

Saurabh���s paternal grandmother Lalita Rajlaxmi was the finance minister of Bihar. His maternal grandfather
Dinesh Singh was the external affairs minister in the Indira Gandhi ministry and also in the Narasimha Rao ministry. Dinesh Singh also served as the union commerce minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet.

Speaking to the ET, he said he wanted to bring about change in political culture. "I really feel that educated and young people should join politics because they are full of new ideas. In my case, it was not a difficult choice as politics was in my blood." About his priorities, he said: "I want to develop Hazaribagh as an educational hub for which I have initiated several steps also as an MLA and would like to carry forward my work as an MP."