Ranchi: Starting his political career as an activist of the student movement launched by Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan in 1976-77, Raghuvar Das traversed a long way to take over as the first non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand.
In his days in the Jamshedpur Co-operative College, Das was an active student union leader.
Das joined the BJP as a simple worker and then gradually rose through the party ranks before getting the first break when he was nominated as party candidate from Jamshedpur (East) in the 1995 Assembly elections.
He went on to win the seat five times.
He became a minister for the first time after the creation of Jharkhand in the Babulal Marandi government and got berths in the subsequent two governments led by Arjun Munda before becoming the deputy chief minister in the Shibu Soren-led government in 2009.
He held portfolios of finance, labour and urban development during his stint as cabinet minister.
A former employee of the Tata Steel, Das was twice the state unit's president.
Impressed by his administrative quality, BJP's national president Amit Shah appointed him as a vice-president of the party.
He is scheduled to take oath on December 28 as the chief minister of Jharkhand.
A Raj Bhawan communique said a delegation led by Das will meet Governor Syed Ahmed at 4 pm.
Das will be the third chief minister of BJP in Jharkhand after Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda.
Marandi has since quit BJP and floated Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). While he suffered defeats from Dhanwar and Giridih this time, his party won eight seats.
Munda faced a shock defeat in the polls.
“We will give good and corruption-free governance,” Das, a follower of Jai Prakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and literateur Ramdhari Singh popularly known as Dinkar, told the media after being elected the BJPLP leader.
“We will also work for the 93 per cent people in the unorganized sector, ST/SC and the poor,” he added.
Born on May 3, 1955 and a science and law graduate, Das has been representing Jamshedpur (East) constituency from 1995 and had taken part in students movement in 1974 and later participated in workers agitations at TELCO.
