Five-time Jamshedpur East MLA and Jharkhand’s first chief minister to complete a full term, Raghubar Das, was sitting in his office by 7.15am on Thursday, the last day of campaigning for the seat that votes on Saturday.
By 7.30am, around 200 bikes had lined up outside the Tata Steel L/6 quarters near the CM’s residence. Das emerged 10 minutes later, clad in white kurta pyjama and a yellowish grey bundi. After a brief chat with his supporters, he got on as a pillion rider on a bike, encircled by his Z-plus category security personnel also on bikes.
Sanjeev Singh, a close aide of Das, shouted to the bikers and the security men: “CM Sir has to leave for Ranchi before noon for a rally at Torpa in Khunti and today is the last day of campaigning (for the second phase of the elections). Ensure maximum visibility in the least amount of time.”
The bike rally arrived at Bidyapati Nagar locality in Baridih, around 3km from the CM’s Agrico residence, at 8am. “Sir, people want to meet you,” said a young man sporting a BJP stole.
Das obliged, walking through the locality greeting residents with waves and folded hands.
“Mishraji kaise hain? Paani, bijli thik aa raha hai na? Double engine sarkar se fayda hua ki nahi? (How are you Mishraji? Are you getting regular electricity and water supply or not? Have you got the benefit of double engine government or not?)” the chief minister asked an elderly person sitting outside a single-storey house at Bidyapati Nagar, a locality of retired Tata Steel and government employees. The man smiled and nodded.
“Raghubarji knows all the longtime residents here by name and the people also know him. No cylinder-fylinder will work here, the personal touch will take the wind out the rivals’ sails,” said Sanjeev Singh, who is also BJP convener for Jamshedpur East.
The cylinder is the poll symbol of Das’s cabinet colleague-turned-Independent challenger, Saryu Roy.
Das continued walking and reached Fauza Bagan area, also in Baridih, which has a sizeable Sikh population. He waved at women standing onbalconies.
“Sardarji kaise hai? Vote zarur kijiye ga. Bahut log bhram failyenge, par saath koi nahi dega (How are you Sardarji? Please make sure you vote. Many people will spread rumours but no one will stand by you,” Das said to a middle-aged Sikh man.
The chief minister then got back on a bike and his entourage travelled to Tube Baridih Colony — residences of employees of Tata Steel’s tubes division — and New Baridih, a combination of Tata Steel company quarters and privately owned houses. He kept waving and greeting people with folded hands.
The rally moved toward Bhusan Colony and Jahertola, both urban slums outside Tata Steel lease areas in Baridih. There again, he walked. Then the bike rally reached Ganesh Puja Maidan in Sidhgora around 10.15am where around 300 bikers were waiting.
“Go to every home and make people aware about the benefits the state got due to the double engine government,” Das told the bikers, mostly in their teens and twenties.
After taking part in the bike rally for another 30 minutes at Dus Number Basti, an urban slum serviced by Tinplate Company, the chief minister reached his Agrico residence around 10.50 am.
“The enormous support seen during the campaigning has made me confident of victory,” he told the media there. “Our government has succeeded in reaching welfare schemes to the beneficiaries. The trend in the first phase of the elections, with increase in voting percentage, shows that we will be wresting nearly 10 seats (out of the 13 that voted on November 30). I am confident of serving my constituency and the state as the chief minister for the second term.
“We have curbed the Naxalite menace to a great extent and setting up of police commissioner posts in big cities like Jamshedpur, Ranchi, etc, will help in curbing white-collar crimes too along with improving women’s security. This would be my priority in my second term,” he added.
“We have started the Domuhani bridge to ease traffic bottlenecks on Dimna Road in Mango and work has begun on a flyover in Govindpur that will link the companies located in southern fringe of the city directly to NH-33 through the Luabasa bridge and heavy traffic will not disturb city arteries,” he said.
He said that all district administrations had been asked before the Lok Sabha polls to start a survey of backward castes, which would be completed in the new year.
“We want to provide reservation to backward castes based on their population as per law and would try to do it within three months of formation of government,” he said.
He claimed his government has tried to provide the same kind of civic facilities for company-serviced areas and non-company areas of Jamshedpur, and done enormous work in electricity generation. “The Dhanbad grid will soon be complete and within six months we will have the necessary infrastructure to supply power from state energy department and would not have to take expensive service of DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation). We will have 70 grids and 200 substations in the new year,” he said.
He left for Ranchi around 11.45 am.
