Raghubar Das to be BJP's CM face for Jharkhand polls

Ranchi: With a few months to go for the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to begin its election campaign with the present Chief Minister Raghubar Das as the face of its leader in the state.

Though the BJP has not made the formal announcement, the state party unit will begin its campaign with the "Ghar-ghar Raghubar" campaign on lines similar to the successful BJP slogan of "Ghar-ghar Modi". The campaign is to be launched on September 9.

The state BJP President Lakshman Giluva said here that the aim of the "Ghar-ghar Raghubar" campaign is to ensure that party workers reach out to each household across the state and apprise them about the initiatives taken by the state and the Central governments.

He said: "A month long 'jan ashirvad yatra' will be launched on September 15 to seek blessings of the public to get 65 plus seats. The people had blessed us during the Lok Sabha polls also."

The party spokesperson Pratul Sehdev said: "Raghubar Das is our Chief Minister and if it has been made clear that he will be the face for the forthcoming polls, then what is the harm. The Opposition is leaderless. They are fighting among themselves. But we have shown our clarity on the leadership issue."

Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Tejasvi Yadav, said in Ranchi on saturday that they want an adivasi to be projected as the chief ministerial face in Jharkhand. He said that his party will support adivasi candidate.

With the Opposition in the state is calling for an advasi face, a senior journalist Vijay Pathak said: "The adivasi for the Chief Minister's post is not an issue in the state. The issue ended after Raghubar Das was made the Chief Minister. Common people believe that development is the bigger issue."

The state is slated to go for the legislative Assembly polls towards the end of the year. Jharkand has 82 Assembly seats of which one is nominated.