Saryu Roy plays giant-killer, defeats his former boss
Roy has won from the Jamshedpur West constituency twice in the past, and this time, he shifted to the Jamshedpur East Constituency to take on the chief minister after he was denied a ticket in his old constituency.
“Bahut gussa hai loga main CM ka khilaf (there is lot of anger among people against the CM),” said Saryu Roy, a BJP rebel who contested as an independent candidate against chief minister, Raghubar Das, in whose cabinet he was once food minister, and defeated his former boss by around 15,000 votes.
Roy has won from the Jamshedpur West constituency twice in the past, and this time, he shifted to the Jamshedpur East Constituency to take on the chief minister after he was denied a ticket in his old constituency.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was quick to announce support for him and the Janata Dal (United), a BJP ally in Bihar, was quick to send senior ministers to help Roy, who is an old friend of JD(U) leader and Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar. Indeed, in July 2017, when Roy launched his book, Kumar was the chief guest.
Roy was also able to garner sympathy of the people of Jamshedpur, including senior BJP and RSS workers.
The factor that worked the most for Roy, who started as a RSS worker almost 60 years ago in Jamshedpur, is his image and accessibility.
“Ghar Ghar Raghubar slogan backfired. Last-ditch attempt of BJP Dubara could not work,” said LK Kundan, political science professor, Ranchi University.
