Press Trust of India

Ranchi, 24 December

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 BJPs 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 MLAs 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 ministers post in Jharkhand. People should remember why Jharkhand was created, Munda had said after Advanis 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 Ministers Secretariat.