Photo courtesy: Facebook page of Raghubar Das-Next CM of Jharkhand
Raghubar Das, the front runner in the race for Jharkhand chief minister's post, could be the first non-tribal man at the helm of a state which has a chunk of tribal population.
Jharkhand, formed in 2000, never had a non-tribal chief minister. Thirty-two per cent of the state's population is tribal.
Mr Das, 59, belongs to Other Backward Castes.
The vice-president of the state BJP, Mr Das was the deputy chief minister in the Shibu Soren government in 2009. He held the post for five months after which, the BJP withdrew support to the government and President's Rule was declared in the state.
Mr Das' name came up after Mr Soren's son Hemant wrote to the BJP leadership to keep the coalition intact, offering support for a BJP-led government. He was the choice of party veteran LK Advani and Nitin Gadkari, since the party was keen on a non-tribal face, but it was difficult to convince the JMM.
The matter, however, was scuttled when the BJP decided to stick to its decision of pulling off support from the government.
This time, decks were cleared for Mr Das when Arjun Munda, the state's three-time chief minister, was defeated from his traditional seat Kharsawan. Mr Das had won from Jamshedpur East.
Asked about his prospects for the top job, Mr Das said, "The party's Parliamentary Board and the honorable Prime Minister will take a decision on this."
"But I wish to assure the people of Jharkhand and Jamshedpur that I'd always be there to serve them," he added.
The BJP, which had not declared any candidate for the chief minister's post, is leading on 42 of the 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand along with its ally, the All Jharkhand Students' Union, or AJSU. The counting of the votes for the five-phase assembly is taking place today.