Past Repeats in Jamshedpur East as Rebel Rises Against BJP

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Raghubar Das Stature at Stakes in Jamshedpur East in Jharkhand Elections

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, October 31: Five years ago, the Jamshedpur East Assembly seat had sealed the fate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. The BJP rebel Saryu Roy had shifted from his traditional seat to the Jamshedpur East constituency to challenge then chief minister Raghubar Das.

Five years later, the script appears replaying in the Jamshedpur East constituency. Purnima Das Sahu, daughter-in-law of Ragubar Das, is the BJP nominee from the Jamshedpur East constituency. Shiv Shankar Singh is the BJP rebel against her in the electoral ring.

The Congress has fielded Ajoy Kumar from the Jamshedpur East constituency. His name to fame has been an image of crackdown against criminals while he was an IPS officer in the steel city of Jharkhand. On his watch, Kumar had persuaded industries to hold auctions of steel scraps in Jamshedpur.

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“For three years, I had been working here hard as a BJP worker. But the BJP gave the Assembly election ticket to daughter of Raghubar Das. The BJP is promoting nepotism,” Singh, the BJP rebel, tells crowd in the city.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, Roy had defeated Raghubar Das from the Jamshedpur East constituency. Now, Roy, 73, has returned to his traditional Jamshedpur West constituency.

Roy and Singh share the pedigree of loyal BJP workers turning revels against Raghubar Das. They also belong to the Rajput caste which has about 55,000 votes in the Jamshedpur East constituency.

“There is a strong response to the campaign of Singh from the people. The BJP rebel, who is now an independent candidate, was the choice of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) to contest from the seat. By denying him the party ticket, the BJP has made party workers angry,” said Amit Kumar, a political observer, on phone from Jamshedpur.

Locals claimed that Roy may also be backing Singh in the Assembly elections. Raghubar Das, Odisha Governor, has his political stature at stakes. He will hope to wrest back the Assembly seat through his daughter-in-law.

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The Congress hopes to emerge winner in the event of the BJP vote base splitting in the constituency. Kumar is riding the political ladder and a win from the Jamshedpur East constituency may boost his profile in the state politics.

The BJP nominee also has history to fight off in the Jamshedpur East constituency. No woman candidate has ever won from the Jamshedpur East constituency.

To turn the tide against history, Sahu will bank on the BJP top guns to galvanise her campaign and bring the house in order. “If Singh cuts into the BJP vote base, it will be a tall order for Sahu to win the seat,” added Kumar.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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