Sinha has full support of the BJP’s central leadership as he tries to realise this rather difficult task from his base in the naxal-infested region.
Ex-external affairs minister could be the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in Jharkhand NEW DELHI: From giving expert opinion on the Indo-US nuclear deal from the comforts of his Lutyens bungalow in Delhi to suffering blows during a police lathicharge in Jharkhand, Yashwant Sinha has achieved quite a transformation within a fortnight.
The former external affairs minister has, though temporarily, shifted base to the remote and rough terrains of his home state. His mission: To overthrow the incumbent state government led by independent legislator Madhu Koda.
Sinha has full support of the BJP’s central leadership as he tries to realise this rather difficult task from his base in the naxal-infested region where former chief minister Babulal Marandi’s son was killed in a Maoist attack last year.
The suave Sinha is leading a “journey for freedom from misrule” (Kushasan Mukti Parivartan Yatra) in the state, which was ironically described as a mini-powerhouse when it was carved out of Bihar in 2000 for being mineral rich and a house to a number of top industries, including TISCO and SAIL.
The former minister is making his way through jungles, mingling with tribal and non-tribal settlers in villages and semi-urban areas.
Speaking to DNA from a non-descript place near Jamtara, Sinha claimed he had always been “rooted to the ground” and there was a mismatch between the perception and reality about his larger public image.
“I have always been a grassroots man. If I took up nuclear deal, handled portfolios of finance and external affairs as a minister and was a bureaucrat before entering politics, I get this tag of being a hawai neta (rootless wonder). But I have never been like that. I have fought on the street if need be. I have done it before and I am doing it now,” he said.
“The Madhu Koda government is a cruel joke on the democratic traditions and has been kept in existence by the Congress, Lalu Prasad-led RJD and the JMM. This government must go and fresh elections be held,” Sinha said.
The BJP leadership has shed its initial inhibition of projecting a non-tribal as the would-be chief minister in a “tribal” state as tribals are now only a minority in Jharkhand.
Sinha is all set to be projected as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the next elections. Party president Rajnath Singh has informally communicated this to him and former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda has been asked to toe the unofficial party line that Sinha is the leader on the ground.
s_singh@dnaindia.net 
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