Babulal Marandi

Marandi, who was the incumbent MP from Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency), contested the elections on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ticket in 2009 general election, and retained the seat. But in the Narendra Modi wave of 2014, Marandi's party failed to win any seat in the state as BJP won 12 out of 14 seats; from Koderma, BJP's Ravindra Kumar Ray was elected to Lok Sabha.

Babulal Marandi is married to Shanti Devi. His residential house in Giridih is situated at Power House near Barganda. Along with Marandi his younger brother is also an active member in JVM. His younger son Anup Marandi was killed in a Naxal attack at Chilkhadia village in Jharkhand's Giridih district on 27 October 2007.

Marandi resigned from both Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) seat and the primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party in 2006 and floated a new political outfit named Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. He was followed by 5 MLAs of Bharatiya Janata Party. In the subsequent by-elections for the Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) seat, he contested as an independent candidate and emerged victorious.

Thereafter, he increasing moved away from political mainstage of Jharkhand irrespective of NDA being in power in Ranchi. In the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, he contested from Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) as a BJP candidate. He won the seat while all the other sitting MPs of NDA from Jharkhand including union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Reeta Verma lost their respective seats. His differences with the state leadership continued to increase and he even started criticising the state government in public.

He also put forward the idea to develop Greater Ranchi to reduce the crowding in the city. However, Marandi's tenure proved rather short-lived, as he had to resign and make way for Arjun Munda for the post in 2003 following pressure exerted by coalition allies primarily Janta Dal United.

After bifurcation of Bihar in 2000 in states of Bihar and Jharkhand, NDA came to power in Jharkhand with Marandi as the 1st Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Political analysts believe that this government initiated many developmental schemes in the state, the most visible being, improvement of the road network in the state.

It was under Marandi's leadership that the party won 12 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand region in the 1998 election. Marandi, a Santal, led the tally by defeating Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren, another Santhal.

In 1991, the Bharatiya Janata Party gave him the ticket to contest from the Dumka (Lok Sabha constituency), but he lost. In 1996, he lost to Shibu Soren by just 5,000 odd votes. The BJP, in the meantime, made him president of the party's Jharkhand unit.

In 1983, he moved to Dumka and worked in the Santhal Pargana division, which he toured extensively. Where he come close to Bishnu Prasad Bhaiya, his the then companion and there he used to spent some time at his Jamtara's Residence but mainly he used to live in the RSS office in Dumka. And after that his journey to Ranchi and then Delhi begins.

Babulal Marandi (born 11 January 1958) is an Indian Politician. He was the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand and current Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. He was the founder and national President of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). He was the Member of Parliament in 12th, 13th 14th and 15th Lokasabha from Jharkhand . He was the Union State Minister (MoS) for Forests & Environment of India in the BJP - led National Democratic Alliance Government in 1998 to 2000.