Chief minister Raghubar Das has virtually taken control of the NDA election campaign in Jharkhand this 2019 parliamentary election amid the UPA’s attempts to prevent a repeat of the 2014 results when, riding on a Narendra Modi wave, the BJP had won 12 out of 14 seats here.

For Das, this is the biggest test of his political career, as the BJP, contesting from 13 seats, leaving one for NDA ally Ajsu, has dropped four sitting MPs and is having to deal with high-profile factionalism and anti incumbency in pockets. The JMM, contesting four seats as part of the Opposition alliance, started campaigning much earlier, with working president Hemant Soren since last June visiting all 81 seats to highlight BJP failures.

Das on Tuesday visited Khunti and Giridih to join former CM Arjun Munda and Annapurna Devi, respectively, as they filed nomination papers from Khunti and

Koderma seats, and addressed election rallies. He returned to Ranchi and joined the BJP’s Ranchi nominee Sanjay Seth when the latter filed his nomination.

In the recent past Das had accompanied the party’s Chatra MP and candidate Sunil Singh, Union minister and sitting MP Sudarshan Bhagat in Lohardaga, Union minister and candidate Jayant Sinha in Hazaribagh and sitting MP and candidate V.D. Ram in Palamau when they filed their nominations. At Chatra, sensing public anger against Singh for his absenteeism, Das even went on to appeal to voters to forgive Singh.

Party insiders said since state BJP president and sitting MP from Singhbhum Laxman Gilua is contesting elections, Das has had to take charge of campaigning. Das had been state BJP president twice and had also headed the party during polls in the past, but stakes are higher now.

“You can say Raghubarji is now in the role of the BJP state president. He wakes up at 4.30am to a hectic schedule. At the centre stage of state and party politics, the CM has to ensure the NDA performs well in Jharkhand. He meets party workers and leaders at his residence at least twice, early in the morning and at night, visits the BJP state headquarters to supervise activities, takes minute feedback from all constituencies, meets at least 50 important people across civil society to know their views,” a close associate of Das told this paper on Tuesday. “He is hands-on. He minutely examines where the party or candidate is faltering, suggests corrective steps, including who can be contacted to strengthen the party. He decides the mode of campaigning at ground level.”

Among Das’s recent successes was getting BJP national president Amit Shah to personally talk to Ravindra Rai and Ravindra Pandey who were unhappy after being dropped from Koderma and Giridih seats. But Lohardaga, Ranchi and Singhbhum seem problems for the BJP. The party’s prestige is at stake in Singhbhum where state BJP president Laxman Gilua is contesting election against Opposition alliance candidate Geeta Koda who has her own clout. In Lohardaga, Congress’ Sukhdeo Bhagat has a sizeable base. In Ranchi, disgruntled sitting MP Ram Tahal Choudhary, a BJP veteran since Jan Sangh days, resigned after being dropped and filed his candidature as an Independent on Tuesday.

On Rajmahal and Dumka won by the JMM in 2014, BJP poll pundits hold different opinions. “We are in a weak position in Rajmahal but results of Dumka (where JMM patriarch Shibu Soren is the sitting MP) will spring a surprise,” predicted one.

Asked, Das appeared confident about an NDA clean sweep. “The NDA will win all 14 seats in Jharkhand. There is a strong Narendra Modi wave in Jharkhand. People know who brought changes in their lives through welfare schemes. This is the time for the UPA to worry,” he said. He brushed off any talk of challenge, saying, “There is no life without challenge. I love to take up challenges.”

Hemant, meanwhile, is not only campaigning in Jharkhand, but also in Bengal, Odisha and Bihar where the JMM has fielded candidates. “Today (Tuesday) he is in Rajmahal and Dumka. He’s done massive campaigning in Giridih. He’ll campaign in all 14 seats for UPA candidates,” said state party central general secretary and spokesperson Vinod Pandey.

A JMM source said the party hired a chopper two weeks back and would hire another very soon.

Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate from Ranchi Subodh Kant Sahay addresses a rally at Ichagarh. Telegraph picture