Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das may become active once again in the state politics soon with the BJP planning Haryana strategy in Jharkhand. Das resigned as Governor of Odisha and he was immediately relieved. Despite playing tribal-centric politics with three tribal CMs – Babu Lal Marandi, Arjun Munda and Champai Soren -- working for it in the 2024 Assembly elections, the BJP failed to romp home.
So, they are now planning a new experiment by bringing Das back with tribal versus the rest. The BJP feels that infighting marred his chances to become CM for the second time but despite anti-incumbency, his performance was better that this time round. There are a certain number of tribals who believe in Hindutva politics vote for the BJP.
According to the press communiqué from Rashtrapati Bhawan, the President of India has officially accepted Raghubar Das’ resignation. Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati, the current Governor of Mizoram, has been appointed as his successor in Odisha.
Raghubar Das, who stepped down as Odisha Governor on Tuesday, expressed his willingness to return to active party work, leaving his future role to the high command's discretion.
"I come from a common mazdoor family. From a booth-level worker, I served in various capacities. I was given a chance to serve the people of Jharkhand. I will discharge whatever responsibility the party entrusts me with," Das said on Wednesday, highlighting his journey from a working-class background to top leadership positions.
"Our party will decide my role," he said amid speculation that he would return to active politics. Das was in Puri to visit the Lord Jagannath temple. "I feel blessed to have served the people of Odisha. The state has been progressing very fast with a double engine government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am sure it will be among the most developed states in the country by its centenary year in 2036," he said.
Months before the Assembly election Das has expressed his desire to join Jharkhand politics. In September this year Das when he was Governor of Odisha had changed colour of the profile picture of Odisha Governor Raghunar Das on X and Facebook, sparking speculations over his return to Jharkhand politics once again. Interestingly, Das changed the frame of his profile picture on social media platforms to green and saffron for some time, but as soon as it went viral on social media, it was replaced with the earlier photograph.
It was largely believed in the political circles that Das might contest from his old seat Jamshedpur East in the recently held Assembly elections, but for some unknown reasons the idea was postponed and his daughter-in-law was fielded from there.
In the Jamshedpur (East) constituency, political greenhorn Purnima Sahu (30) has emerged victorious after beating warhorse Ajoy Kumar of Congress, securing her family's political heritage. She defeated Kumar by an impressive margin of over 42,000 votes.
The seat, which slipped from BJP's grasp in 2019 when former chief minister Raghubar Das lost to independent candidate Saryu Roy, has now returned to the family's fold.
Following her victory, Sahu said, "This win is because of the good work done by my father-in-law in the last 25 years as a public representative from this seat. I went to the polls on the development plank and now, I will work towards continuing his activities."
The former journalist-turned-homemaker-turned-politician garnered 106,398 votes while Ajoy Kumar managed to secure 62,938 votes. Sahu maintained her lead throughout all 21 rounds of counting.
