Koda will be only third Independent to become CM

Ranchi, Sept 15: Madhu Koda, the curly haired man who loves to attend the Assembly in jeans and a jacket will be only the third Independent MLA to become a Chief Minister- Bishwanath Das of Orissa was the first in 1971 and Dr F A Khonglam of Meghalaya followed in 2002.

His life had been a litany of failures. He failed to keep his father's wishes. Senior Koda wanted him to become a policeman but his son went and joined politics instead. He failed to keep his marriage afloat when his wife eloped with an engineer after four months of marriage in 2004. And he failed to make a mark as a minister in Jharkhand.

But success finally seems just a step away. Mr Koda (pronounced Kora), 35, has turned out to be a one man army who rocked the boat of the BJP in Jharkhand. The Independent MLA from the mineral and forest rich Jagannathpur constituency is set to take over as the next Chief Minister.

No one had thought that the political novice who was denied a ticket by the BJP in the 2005 Assembly polls would ever replace erstwhile Chief Minister Arjun Munda. Mr Koda, in fact was in those days more of an object of pity than a symbol of strength. Many still remember how he broke down before the party's senior leader, Yashwant Sinha, after the BJP refused to field him from the seat, a constituency that Mr Koda had represented after winning the seat on a BJP ticket in 1999.

But then Mr Koda contested and won the seat in the West Singhbhum district as an Independent candidate, becoming a much sought after legislator in the House. The BJP-Janata Dal (United) combine had got a fractured mandate in the last polls having won only 36 seats in the 81-member House excluding the Nominated member. To keep his government going, Mr Munda had to bow to the Independents and their hard bargains. So Mr Koda became his Mines and Geology Minister.

But Mr Koda's term was a lacklustre one. A product of a Hindi school in the backward West Singhbhum district, Mr Koda has a speech impediment which inhibits him from speaking in the Assembly. He is also not remembered for any landmark decision of work as a Deputy Panchayat Raj Minister in the Babulal Marandi government in his first tenure as MLA. Or later as a Minister under Mr Munda.

Some still believe that Mr Koda is a simpleton, others are not so sure. It was, after all, he who raised the banner of revolt aganinst the Munda dispensation, along with three other Independent ministers. The four resigned , reducing Munda's government to a minority. Observers believe that the move had the support of some strategists of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) who have propped up Mr Koda as the next Chief Minister.

Reason behind his latest differences with the deposed Munda government was hatgamharia road of his constituency. He vehemently protested against giving the contract to a controversial firm which had the backing of Munda and Home Minister Sudesh Mahto. That finally resulted in an open revolt leading his resignation with three other ministers from the Munda Cabinet.

He fought his first Assembly election as a BJP candidate from Jagannathpur and lost by a thin margin. He was elected as an MLA in 2000 on a BJP ticket.

After the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state, he was made a state Minister of Rural Engineering Organisation on November 15, 2005.

He was made a Cabinet Minister Panchayati Raj and National Rural Engineering Programme (NREP) during the regime of Arjun Munda. He was removed from the post on July seven, 2004 following the SC rule which directed to limit the size of ministerial berths.

Due to internal politics of bjp he was not given ticket in 2005 elections but won the election as an Independent candidate from the seat. He was then included in the Arjun Munda government and was made Minister for Mines, Cooperatives and Geology. He also held Parliamentary Affairs department too.

Koda hails from a simple family from Jagannathpur village of Patahatu in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. He belongs to a family of ten members including four brothers, four sisters, father and mother. His father Rasika Koda was an ordinary IISCO (SAIL) employee.

Born on January 6 in 1971, Mr Koda completed his primary and middle education from Gua township of the district. He did his higher secondary from zila school. He completed his intermediate with science subject from Tata college in Chaibasa and graduation from Utkal University in Bhubaneshwar.

After completing his studies he returned to Gua and worked as an daily labourer with BSBK company for his livelihood.

He represented as a labourer union affiliated to the indian labour association. He was sent to jail several times as a union leader. He was also the district president of youth wing of BJP in West Singhbhum district.

Mr Koda is soft spoken, loves cooking and playing football and plays traditional musical instruments, mander and nagara.

UNI

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