Ranchi: C P Singh, the veteran BJP MLA who is seeking a record seventh term from the Ranchi assembly seat, has begun campaigning with all his might even before filing his nomination papers.
The 69-year-old former minister had a scare in 2019 when won by a thin margin of a little over 5,000 votes against his nearest rival — JMM’s Mahua Majhi. This time, the fight for Singh began even before the votes were cast even as a section of the BJP leadership was in favour of benching him and fielding a fresh face, given the possible anti-incumbency which may have set in against him.
Amid the raging rumours that he could be benched, Singh’s close associates suggested that he undertake a trip to New Delhi to secure his seat by meeting the party’s national leadership.Singh rejected the idea, saying PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, national general secretary B L Santosh and all other senior party leaders knew him personally and were aware of his track record.
Singh, however, knows well that sharing a personal rapport with the BJP bigwigs is not enough to secure his victory. So, he hit the streets early and is doing now what he does best — crisscrossing the city on foot and meeting people in all localities with a smile. “C P Singh is a leader who knows thousands of Ranchi residents by their first names. He arrives at short notice at weddings, funerals, rice ceremonies and even to resolve disputes in the localities. He is easily approachable and always available,” said Praveen Prakash, a resident of Vidya Nagar in Harmu.
Singh is also adopting a softer approach to his party’s aggressive agenda of Bangladeshi immigrants’ influx in Jharkhand, including in Ranchi. Talking about this agenda, Union minister of state for defence and Ranchi MP, Sanjay Seth, often said at public meetings that even many of the street vendors in Ranchi were Bangladeshi immigrants. “They sell goods in carts during the day and commit crimes at night. This needs to stop,” Seth said.
Singh told TOI, “In Ranchi, people from all communities are my family. Several women from the minority are like ‘chachi’ to me while some are like my daughters.” Contrary to the perception that a bypass surgery he had a few years ago has slowed him down a bit, the soon-to-be septuagenarian is putting in the hard yards already.