Koda: story of a labourer to lord

Ranchi, Sep 18 (UNI) Madhu Koda's is a quintessential pauper to prince story.

This graduate of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, had started life as a daily labourer with a private firm more than a decade ago.

Today he is the fourth chief minister of Jharkhand.

As he was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Syed Sibtey Razi at the historic Morhabadi ground here, Mr Koda touched another milestone in his relatively low profile political career.

The curly haired man, who prefers to attend the assembly in jeans and jacket, became the third Independent MLA to become a chief minister after Bishwanath Das of Orissa in 1971 and Dr F A Khonglam of Meghalaya in 2002.

In 2005, Koda, who hails from the Ho community in Jharkhand had requested BJP leader Yashwant Sinha for a party ticket to fight the assembly polls but was denied.

It took only 18 months for Mr Koda to rock the saffron boat that finally saw the ouster of the Arjun Munda government and paved the way for a UPA dispensation.

Mr Koda's life is full of failures. He failed to keep his father's wish of becoming a policeman. He also failed to keep his marriage afloat as his wife deserted him four months after marriage in 2004. And he failed to make a mark as a minister in Jharkhand.

No one had thought that the political novice, who struggles with his Hindi, would ever replace Mr Munda. Many still remember how he broke down before party's senior leader Yashwant Sinha after the BJP refused to field him from the Jaganathpur seat which Mr Koda had won in 1999.

But then Mr Koda contested and won the seat in the west Singhbhum district as an Independent, becoming a much sought after legislator in the house.

The BJP-Janata Dal (United) combine 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. Mr Koda was mines and geology minister in the Munda government.

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