Jharkhand: BJP felicitates 5,000 panchayat poll winners with eye on 2024

RANCHI: Over 5,000 newly elected panchayat representatives across the state congregated at Harmu ground in Ranchi at a felicitation programme organised by opposition BJP in a first such event in recent years by the saffron camp.
Sources in the party said the move is part of its efforts to strengthen its base at the grassroots ahead of the 2024 polls.
Despite its emphatic performance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP suffered a rout in the assembly elections that year, especially in tribal and rural pockets.
Also, the ruling alliance government’s rollout of several populist schemes in recent months has sent panic waves within the BJP. Hence, Tuesday’s gathering was aimed at assessing its strength at the grassroots and to connect with the newly elected panchayat workers, majority of whom are either party cadres or sympathisers, said sources.
Kapil Moreshwar Patil, minister of state in Union panchayat ministry, attended as the chief guest while all top brass of the state BJP, including scores of workers, was present despite intermittent drizzles since morning and an overcast sky.
Addressing the panchayat representatives, Patil said, “You all have great responsibilities to serve at the grassroots to make a change. The BJP-led government under Narendra Modi since 2014 has been working overtime to bring development among the under-privileged. Everyone must continue this on the ground.”
Citing how the Centre has been helping Jharkhand, he said it has provided assistance of Rs 2,938 crore for development under various heads in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
“In last five years, the Centre has spent Rs 8,575 crore in various schemes here,” he said.
State party president Deepak Prakash appealed to everyone to oust the Hemant Soren government in the next elections.