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Raghubar Das Sworn In As Jharkhand CM, Heads Coalition Govt

Raghubar Das Sworn In As Jharkhand CM, Heads Coalition Govt
Newly elected Chief Minister of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand Raghubar Das (L) is congratulated by former Chief Minister Hemant Soren after swearing an oath of office at a ceremony in Ranchi on December 28, 2014. Das of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected Chief Minister after the BJP won a convincing victory in recent state assembly elections which concluded on December 20. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)
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Newly elected Chief Minister of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand Raghubar Das (L) is congratulated by former Chief Minister Hemant Soren after swearing an oath of office at a ceremony in Ranchi on December 28, 2014. Das of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected Chief Minister after the BJP won a convincing victory in recent state assembly elections which concluded on December 20. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

RANCHI: BJP leader Raghubar Das was on Sunday sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Jharkhand at the head of a five-member BJP-AJSU (All Jharkhand Students Union) coalition government, becoming the first non-tribal leader to rule the state.

Governor Syed Ahmed administered the oath of office and secrecy to 59-year-old Das at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium in Ranchi.

Nilkanth Singh Munda, Chandreswar Prasad Singh, Louis Marandi (all BJP) and Chandraprakash Choudhary (AJSU) were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.

Jharkhand has a maximum limit of 12 ministers, including the Chief Minister.

Dense fog in New Delhi led Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah to cancel their visit to Jharkhand to attend the ceremony.

People of Jharkhand voted for stability. I congratulate them & pray that Jharkhand scales new heights of progress in the coming years.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 28, 2014

Das, a National Vice President of the party, became the tenth Chief Minister after Babulal Marandi (once), Arjun Munda (thrice), Shibu Soren (thrice), Madhu Koda (once) and Hemant Soren (once) in 14 years after Jharkhand was created.

After being elected as the BJP's Legislature Party leader on Friday, Das had staked claim to form government on December 26 at the head of BJP-Asju alliance.

Das joined BJP as a worker and then gradually rose through party ranks before getting the first break when he was nominated as party candidate from Jamshedpur (East) in the 1995 Assembly polls in undivided Bihar. 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.

This is the first time that BJP, along with its pre-poll ally Ajsu, has got an absolute majority in 81-member state Assembly.

While BJP has 37 members, AJSU has five, taking their total tally to 42.

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