Ranchi, Nov. 25: Deciding that discretion is indeed the better part of valour, the BJP today formally declared that Arjun Munda will continue as the chief minister but will not be projected as the ?CM-apparent? during its election campaign.

Rajnath Singh, who is the official prabhari (in-charge) of Jharkhand, told reporters that ?we will project a collective leadership?. ?The chief minister will be elected by the elected MLAs,? he added.

If the first part of Singh?s statement scotched rumours that Munda could be replaced as a ?last-minute? damage-control move, the second half confirmed that the BJP would replicate the experiment which paid off in Chhattisgarh. The party refused to unveil its chief ministerial nominee there despite the overweening presence of then Congress chief minister Ajit Jogi and the need for a counterweight to his persona.

BJP strategists had argued that given the tribal-non-tribal ethnic balance in Chhattisgarh, it was ?unwise? to risk projecting a candidate from one ethnic group and antagonise the other.

While the same consideration was not at work in Jharkhand, sources feared that if Munda was displaced close to the election, he could ?revolt? and return to his parent party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) or covertly work for them. The move, said sources, would also be construed as a condemnation of the BJP government and an admission of failure to deliver the goods.

Sources admitted the leadership was aware of the ?failures? of the Munda government. The chief minister?s ?unpopularity? was apparent in the BJP rally yesterday when crowds spontaneously applauded his predecessor, Babulal Marandi, when he appeared on the dais with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani and had to be coaxed to clap when it was Munda?s turn. Marandi?s supporters claimed that notwithstanding the controversy over the ?domicile? issue, he came a ?close second? to JMM chief Shibu Soren in the popularity sweepstakes. Political observers, while dismissing the claim as an ?overstatement?, conceded that while allegations of corruption were mentioned in passing when Marandi ruled, his successor had allegedly ?institutionalised? it.

Sections of the urban middle-class, they said, became stake-holders in the ?institution? but the majority of the villagers remained where they were before Jharkhand was created.

In this backdrop, they argued, the BJP?s best bet was having a campaign based on the theme that five years was not enough to undo the ?damage? wrought by 50 years of misrule by the Congress and Laloo Yadav.