NDA partners in show of unity ahead of Bermo, Dumka election

Ranchi: NDA partners — BJP and Ajsu-P — on Monday formally kicked-off their joint campaign for November 3 bypolls in Bermo and Dumka and addressed the media jointly for the first time.
In a show of unity, both the parties which had parted ways in the last assembly election, said the twin bypolls will be crucial and see the downfall of the JMM-RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan. While NDA will be eyeing for an increased number of the seats in the assembly, the Mahagathbandhan will face a litmus test of its popularity and the work done since formation of the government in January this year. NDA claimed that the government’s popularity has dipped, the state has become lawless under the Hemant Soren government and pro-people policies taken up by the earlier BJP government were withdrawn.
Addressing media persons at Ajsu-P office here, BJP’s legislative leader party and Dhanwar MLA Babulal Marandi said, “NDA’s formal poll campaign kicks off from today and we are here before you jointly and with double the strength. Backing us are our friends Ajsu-P, JD(U), LJP and JMM (Ulgunan). Our unity is crucial ahead of the electoral battle.”
He added, “JMM knows that it can’t win anywhere else other than a few seats in the Santhal Parganas. This time, the party, which claims to be for the Adivasis and the poor, has fielded another heir of Soren, considering it as their safe seat. Similarly, in Bermo, Congress preferred another dynast as their candidate. The fight will be between dynasts and democratic forces. This apart, utter lawlessness in the state will be the other key plank.”
The party’s state president Deepak Prakash claimed that whenever BJP and Ajsu-P came together, victory never eluded them. Prakash said they are soon going to set up joint campaigning and strategy teams under the NDA banner. “All leaders of the NDA fold will work in tandem to ensure the victory of our candidates. There is absolutely no tussle or bickering at any level,” he added.
Ajsu-P president and Silli MLA Sudesh Mahto said the formation of Jharkhand was possible because of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and whenever the alliance got a chance, they worked for the betterment state. “We are back with a renewed vigour. Dumka is the second capital of the state but remained neglected and underdeveloped despite being JMM’s stronghold. It’s time to unseat them. Bermo is also an important place in Koylanchal that requires more attention,” he said.
The ruling JMM-RJD-Congress camp on the other hand is raking up how the BJP-led NDA’s “misrule” has led to scores of joblessness and other ills plaguing the country. Talking to reporters in Dumka, Hemant cited how the Centre is increasingly trying to attack the cooperative federalism of the country. He said, “The people have seen the spate of misgovernance in the last five years leading to their ouster from the state. Even now, the BJP-led government in the Centre is trying to sell everything to private hands by bringing in new laws daily without even taking the states on board. People are now wary of the NDA.”
Reacting to BJP’s charge of deteriorating law and order in the state, Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey said, “They (BJP) must pose this question to BJP-ruled states like UP, which has shamed and shocked the entire the country when it comes to the issue of women and child safety.”
Accusing the NDA of having double standards, another spokesperson, Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo, said, “Despite winning 12 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats from Jharkhand in 2019, the state could not get any of the pending dues from the Union government even in the middle of the raging pandemic. None of the MPs from the state has raised their voice in the interest of the state. This shows the NDA’s seriousness towards Jharkhand.”
Meanwhile, the Mahagathbandan candidate from JMM, Basant Soren, filed his nomination papers for Dumka on Monday. A political greenhorn in the state election, Basant will face BJP candidate and former social welfare minister Lois Marandi, who will file her papers on Tuesday. In Bermo, Congress’s Kumar Jaimangal will face BJP veteran Yogeshwar Mahto Batul in his debut election. Both will file their papers on Wednesday.
Dumka, a seat reserved for (ST), is a prestige seat for JMM, BJP is desperate to win it back. In the last election, out of 28 ST seats, BJP could win only two compared to 11 it had won in 2014 despite being in power for a full five-year term.