Ranchi: JMM candidate Mahua Maji’s canvassing for the Ranchi assembly segment received a major boost on Sunday evening after chief minister Hemant Soren held a roadshow for her through several residential pockets of the state capital.
Along with 42 other assembly segments, Ranchi will vote on November 13. Initially, Hemant’s wife, Kalpana, was set to hold a roadshow but it was tweaked at the last minute as she failed to make it on time after wrapping up electioneering in Jamshedpur.
During the roadshow, JMM workers poured onto the streets with party banners and flags, and curious onlookers stopped at the sidewalks and peered from their balconies as Hemant moved in an open-hooded SUV along with Maji with folded hands, occasionally waving at the onlookers and smiling.
“In the past, we saw BJP leaders like PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah hold such roadshows in the city to canvas for their Lok Sabha candidates. For JMM, this is definitely a first,” said Mohammad Asghar, a resident of Doranda.
Soren’s roadshow began from the Urs Maidan in Doranda and meandered through the narrow bylanes of Chutia, which is considered a BJP bastion. There, he disembarked from the SUV and blended in with the locals. Notably, he also held a ‘Nukkad Sabha’ at the Manda Maidan in Chutia. “A lot of people are coming to meet you. I came to meet you as well. Humara to hak banta hai,” the chief minister said.
Reminding that his govt opened the Kantatoli flyover recently, Soren said his govt took significant steps to improve riding quality and traffic movement in the city over the past couple of years after the Covid-19 pandemic. “Earlier, you all experienced long hours of power outages. Now, you are getting uninterrupted power and won’t have to pay electricity bills either,” he added.