Raghubar Das is administered oath of office by Governor Syed Ali in Ranchi. (Press Trust of India)
BJP leader Raghubar Das has been sworn in as the first non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand today. The ceremony was held at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium in state capital Ranchi.
Along with Mr Das, four cabinet ministers were also sworn in - MLA from Ranchi, Nilkanth Singh Munda, former speaker Chandreswar Prasad Singh, Louis Marandi who defeated Hemant Soren from Dumka, and BJP's ally All Jharkhand Students' Union or AJSU's Chandraprakash Choudhary.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah were scheduled to attend the oath taking ceremony, but due to dense fog in the national capital, could not fly to Ranchi. Today is the season's coldest day in the national capital at 2.6 degrees Celsius. This was accompanied by a thick fog which reduced visibility to less than 50 metres at most places.
"Was to travel to Jharkhand to attend the oath taking ceremony of Shri Raghubar Das but am unable to do so due to weather conditions," the PM tweeted this morning.
"I would like to congratulate Raghubar Das on taking over as Jharkhand CM and convey my best wishes to him," PM Modi said in another tweet.
The BJP and the AJSU won the state polls, getting 42 seats in the 81-member assembly. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 37 seats while the AJSU won five seats.
"Will bring development and good governance to Jharkhand... I want to thank everyone for this opportunity," Mr Das, a five-time legislator from East Jamshedpur said on Friday, when his name was unanimously selected at a meeting of the party's newly-elected lawmakers as the chief minister.
The 59-year-old, a former deputy chief minister and BJP vice president, had been touted a frontrunner for the top job especially after three-time former chief minister Arjun Munda, considered the tallest tribal leader of the party, lost the elections from his stronghold Kharsawan.
Jharkhand has had nine governments and three stints of President's Rule since it was created in 2000.
In its election campaign, the BJP had promised a stable government in the state. It did not project a chief ministerial candidate and built its campaign around Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his development agenda. The PM had addressed several rallies in the state.