Chief minister Raghubar Das, who faces his biggest political litmus test yet this Assembly elections, is busy being the star campaigner for Assembly constituencies other than his home seat Jamshedpur East.

As Das is away campaigning for “Abki baar, 65 paar” across the state, flying in choppers from rally to rally, his rivals in his home seat, especially BJP rebel and Independent Saryu Roy, are getting the first-movers’ advantage that may prove costly for the chief minister at the hustings.

Political watchers in the BJP and outside are wondering if Das would suffer a fate similar to three-time chief minister and current Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda, who lost his own election while helping party colleagues across the state win.

Unless of course Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally on December 3, four days ahead of voting, completely turns the tide in Das’s favour.

In the 2014 polls, Munda campaigned so hard for his party that he neglected his home seat Kharsawan, and his electorate did not forgive him. Though the NDA won a clear majority, Munda, tipped to be the CM again, lost to the JMM’s Dashrath Gagrai. That’s how Das sat on the CM’s chair. Munda had to spend five years out of power before scraping through Khunti Lok Sabha polls with a wafer-thin majority earlier this year.

In the 2019 Assembly polls, with Munda out of the way, Das was handpicked by the BJP high command to be the CM’s face, lead the Assembly poll campaign and choose the most “winnable” nominees.

But, all depends on whether Das retains his Jamshedpur East seat this time, a political watcher said, adding they had hardly seen Das campaign in his home seat that he has won for five terms.

“You just can’t take the voter for granted. In 2014, Munda tried to ensure victory for other candidates and lost his home seat Kharsawan to JMM rival Gagrai by over 11,000 votes. This may happen with Das too. He’s hardly getting time to meet his voters on home turf at a time when a stalwart like Saryu Roy is pitted against him,” a political observer said.

Roy, who has staked his entire political career on this mega poll battle with Das, is campaigning from the day he filed his nomination as an Independent last Monday. Roy’s campaigning got more aggressive when he got his poll symbol, a gas cylinder, on Saturday.

Roy’s main challenge is not visibility or access, people know him and he is right here. His challenge is to make himself distinct from the BJP, a party he had been associated for decades.

“Roy’s poll symbol is the cylinder, but many people still associate him with the lotus (the BJP symbol),” said a long-term BJP supporter. “This is Roy’s liability.”

Ajeet Singh Dhobal, one of Roy’s strong lieutenants, said they were doing everything possible to make sure people knew Roy was an Independent with a new poll symbol.

“The advantage is that people know him and trust him,” Dhobal said. “We have covered over 80 per cent of localities and will repeat the exercise shortly. A majority of voters here are slum dwellers waiting for their malikana haq (land ownership rights), a carrot Raghubar Das been dangling to ensure his victory for years till recently,” Dhobal said.

Roy is promising to get ownership rights for dwellers of 86 urban slums by citing the recent instance of Delhi.

At the Das camp, Rambabu Tiwary, a trusted aide of the CM, rubbished the misgivings. “The chief minister will start campaigning in Kolhan, including Jamshedpur East constituency, from November 29. Campaigning ends on December 5. Right now, the party’s booth committee workers are holding fort. They are carrying out door-to-door campaigning. His son Lalit Das started campaigning from Monday evening,” Tiwary said. “Everything is fine and the CM knows how to win an election.”

Lalit, an executive in Tata Steel, who met voters at Tuiladungri on Monday and at slums of Chhayanagar on Tuesday, said it was his first experience of canvassing but he had to do it for his father. “People are impressed by the civic amenities such as roads, drains, power and drinking water. They are pleased,” Lalit claimed.

Tiwary added that the BJP was at all bothered over Roy’s whirlwind tour. “He (Roy) is an old man and physical exercise is good for his health,” Das’s aide said.

lJamshedpur East votes on December 7