Raghuvar Das, Saryu Roy frontrunners for non-tribal as Jharkhand chief minister

RANCHI: With BJP set to form a government in Jharkhand, the key question is whether the party, in a break from the past, will give the state's first non-tribal chief minister for which BJP's vice president Raghuvar Das and veteran leader Saryu Roy appear to be front-runners.

However, if BJP decides to stick to tribal as chief minister, the focus could shift to union minister Sudarshan Bhagat.

A five-time MLA, Das' keenness for the top post is no secret. A couple of years ago while speaking in the state assembly, Das had reacted to an MLA's remark whether he was interested in becoming CM, by saying a man is in politics for that reason only.

With former chief minister Arjun Munda, a tribal, falling out of the race with his defeat in the assembly poll, Das has become guarded in his statements now.

He left the issue of CM's choice to BJP's central party leadership when the media had yesterday asked him in Jamshedpur to comment on the chief ministerial candidate.

Saryu Roy, considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (he was in a committee set up to collect iron pieces for the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a pet project of Modi), was instrumental in setting the precedent of having a tribal as chief minister of Jharkhand and it has continued since then.

Roy had backed Babulal Marandi when he was made the first chief minister on November 15, 2000 immediately after the creation of Jharkhand.

Thereafter, Arjun Munda (thrice), Shibu Soren (thrice) and Madhu Koda (once) and Hemant Soren (once) carried on the tribal baton.

Munda had expressed his reservation when BJP veteran L K Advani earlier this year told the media that Yashwant Sinha was suited for the chief minister's post in Jharkhand.

"People should remember why Jharkhand was created," Munda had said after Advani's comments, apparently indicating that Jharkhand was created for the development of tribals and a tribal CM alone could understand their problems.

Though only about 10 out of the 37 BJP MLAs are tribals this time, any resentment in the legislature party meeting against a non-tribal CM could bring Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Sudarshan Bhagat into spotlight.

Bhagat, 45, was a junior minister in the Arjun Munda government in 2005/06, with his portfolio being attached to the Chief Minister's Secretariat.

With RSS and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad background, soft-spoken Bhagat was seen in the meetings addressed by late RSS ideologue K C Sudarshan whenever the latter came to Ranchi.

Will Modi, being a staunch opponent of dynastic politics, approve Yashwant Sinha's son Jayant's name?

Jharkhand has a history of springing surprises and there had been instances when dark horses had gone to become CM.

Nobody had expected Babulal Marandi to become CM as Karia Munda's appeared frontrunner.

Nobody expected Arjun Munda to be elevated to CM's post as Marandi's reign was functioning smoothly.

Nobody ever gave a thought to Madhu Koda staging a coup. So, one never knows if at all Gumla's newly-elected MLA and well-educated Shivshankar Oraon of BJP would come out as a surprise choice.