Dumka: Former chief minister and leader of opposition
Hemant Soren on Friday campaigned for independent candidate
Shweta Jha in the civic body elections. Interestingly, Soren’s party
JMM has not fielded any candidate for the post of the chairperson of
Dumka municipal council.
Most of the opposition parties including the JMM, JVM-P and RJD have already announced that they will back Jha to ensure that the
BJP nominee Amita Rakshit is defeated with Soren’s sudden arrival here heightening the intensity of campaigning.
“Our priority is to stop BJP from grabbing the urban civic bodies. The BJP-led state government has turned these civic bodies into money minting machines but has not improved the civic amenities,” Hemant said.
He alleged the state government’s decision to conduct the civic elections on political lines was motivated in order to exploit the common people by imposing heavy taxes like the case of the recent
holding tax being fixed at an exorbitant rate.
Hemant also addressed party cadres at his Khijuriya-based residence and directed them to leave no stone unturned to secure the victory of Jha and party nominee Abhisek Chourasiya contesting for the chairperson and vice chairperson’s posts.
Congress state president
Ajoy Kumar too arrived here on Friday and addressed party members, urging them to work hard in order to ensure that their chairperson nominee Arbi Khatun and vice-chairperson nominee Manoj Ambast become victorious.
Kumar also termed the current rate of holding tax of the municipal bodies to be the glaring example of the insensitivity of the BJP government towards the people.
“We have vowed not to organise victory processions after winning the civic body elections to mark our sensitivity towards the plight of the electorates in terms of the high rates of holding tax,” Kumar said, adding that his party would much rather organise agitations against the state government to press for the immediate withdrawal of the tax.