Bidyut misses cabinet bus again, supporters in Jamshedpur disheartened

JAMSHEDPUR: Supporters of Bidyut Baran Mahato, who won from the Jamshedpur seat, were disheartened as they hoped to see his name included in Team Modi's list this time.

For these party workers, mainly from Jamshedpur West, Jamshedpur East and Baharagora segments, Bidyut’s selection in the Cabinet list would have been the recognition of their hard work, which had led to the hat-trick win of BJP and candidate himself from the seat, breaking the jinx since 1957.

BJP worker Samresh Mahato said, "Bidyut is quite popular among Kurmis, who form a large chunk of voters in Kolhan and in other parts of the state. So, his selection would been a moral boost for the community, who are traditionally with saffron party."

Baharagora party worker Soma Tuddu said, “The Dhalbhumgarh airport project has been pending for long and Bidyut's induction could have led to clearing of bottlenecks in the project. This time, with Arjun Munda not winning the Khunti seat, there is no representation of Kolhan in the Cabinet. With the assembly poll due in October and BJP not getting a single seat from Kolhan in assembly polls even after a 14-2 score in favour of NDA in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the situation can be tougher this time as INDIA bloc has won 5 seats in the recent LS polls."

Party insiders said Sanjay Seth (Ranchi MP) and Annapurna Devi (Koderma MP) were in Modi 3.0 cabinet from Jharkhand as they were from other backward classes (OBCs). Another name which was doing the rounds for a cabinet berth was Nishikant Dubey. Nishikant is from the Brahmin community, which has less than 5% strength in the state.

BJP Jamshedpur mahanagar head Sudhansu Ojha, who is camping in Delhi, told TOI, “The selection of the cabinet team is PM's decision. The PM has to run the govt, so BJP being a very disciplined party doesn't try to interfere in this."