Tag: jmm

Jharkhand: Babulal Marandi withdraws support from Hemant Soren govt, says Congress poaching his MLAs.

Source – indiatoday.in

Nearly a month after joining hands with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress to be part of the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM) today walked out of the alliance and accused the Congress of trying to poach its MLAs.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, JVM president Babulal Marandi said the Congress, which is part of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand, is trying to break the JVM.

The letter read: “Our party Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) had on December 24, 2019, gave a letter of unconditional support to the government under your (Hemant Soren) leadership. But the Congress, which is a part of the UPA, is trying to break our MLAs, which the newspapers have published prominently today. In this context, our party has reviewed its support and decided to withdraw support to the UPA government under your leadership.”

This announcement came a day after two JVM MLAs-Pradip Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey-met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, fuelling speculations that they are set to join the Congress. The two also met Rahul Gandhi and Congress Jharkhand in-charge RPN Singh.

The JVM had won three seats in the recently held Jharkhand assembly election. If Yadav and Tirkey join Congress, Marandi will be the lone JVM MLA in Jharkhand.

Speculations are also rife that the JVM may merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the main opposition party in the state at present.

However, JVM’s withdrawing support will not have any impact on the government as it has 47 MLAs in the 81-member house.

“Our party has extended support to the Hemant Soren government. But its coalition partner, Congress is attempting to poach our MLAs. In view of that, the party has decided to withdraw its support,” JVM general secretary Saroj Singh told reporters in Ranchi.

He said the party has also decided to remove Pradip Yadav as the legislature party leader in the state assembly and sent a letter to the Speaker in this connection.

On the two MLAs meeting Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Congress spokesman Alok Kumar Dubey told PTI, “The two leaders got the blessings of our senior leaders. They are welcome to join the party.”

“After consultations with Jharkhand Congress president Rameshwar Oraon and CLP leader Alamgir Alam further actions will set in motion,” he said.

While Tirkey, MLA from Mandar in Ranchi district, was expelled by the party on Tuesday last, Yadav, elected from Poreyahat in Godda district, is still its leader.

The development has come at a time when speculation is rife in the media that JVM-P may merge with the saffron party and Marandi could be named as new leader of the BJP legislature party in the Jharkhand assembly.

Significantly, the 25-member BJP legislature party has not yet named its leader.

The JVM, however, has denied the media reports that the party was heading to merge with the BJP.

Domicile issue sparks row in Jharkhand after JMM chief Shibu Soren’s poser on land records.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: A fresh controversy over domicile policy erupted after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren said that 1932 ‘khatian’ (land records) be made the basis for granting domicile certificates to Adivasi-Moolwasi of the state. 

JMM’s key ally Congress, on the other hand, is of the view that 1932 ‘khatian’ cannot be the only basis for domicile as the land-survey was conducted in different point of time in different districts.

However, it vowed that current cut-off year, 1985, will definitely be revised taking everyone in confidence so that jobs could be assured only to the locals of Jharkhand.

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren said that the promises made to the people in the party manifesto before elections will definitely be fulfilled.   

‘Sthaniya Niti’, previously known as domicile policy, has been a contentious issue for the state since its creation as successive governments could not define it.

The BJP government, when in power, made 1985 as the cut-off year and laid out other criteria.  

As per the provisions in the new Domicile Policy announced by Raghubar Das Government in 2016, people living in Jharkhand since or before 1985 will be considered as local inhabitants.

Analysing BJP’s failure in Jharkhand.

Source –

The decisive victory of the ‘Mahagatbandhan’ of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is an interesting turning point in Jharkhand politics, and perhaps of the country’s, too. This is significant in terms of (i) regulating the political ascendance of BJP, (ii) reaffirming the criticality of regional political parties, and (iii) synchronization of national, state and local issues and people’s aspirations.

Immediately after the Jharkhand Assembly election results, many newspapers and TV news channels published two maps of India depicting how the BJP has shrunk in the states after reaching a peak in 2017. The Jharkhand results are important because it was the first election in a north Indian state after the Narendra Modi government’s move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 – all part of the BJP’s Hindutva agenda. Yet, Jharkhand became the fifth state since November last year (after Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan) to throw the BJP out of power. The BJP’s presence is now limited to Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh as far as the larger states are concerned. In this context, it is essential to understand the contributing factors behind the BJP’s defeat and its implications for the upcoming Delhi and Bihar elections and for national politics.

The contributing factors for the BJP’s defeat in Jharkhand are many. Some of the crucial ones are the denial of party tickets to genuine and honest candidates, fissures in the local leadership, selection of non-Adivasi chief ministerial candidate in a tribal-dominated state, the rift between the chief minister and the party cadre, the party’s inability to read the needs of the state, the undemocratic arrests of Adivasis who participated in the ‘Pathalgadi Movement,’ the misadventure of pushing amendments to the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and Santhal Parganas Tenancy (SPT), the passage of the divisive Religious Freedom Bill, 2017.

Significantly, the contentious Land Acquisition (Jharkhand Amendment) Act of 2017, aimed at modifying crucial provisions of ‘The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013, nullified the role of Gram Sabhas by doing away with the requirement of Social Impact Assessment. The way the BJP dealt with the issues of traditional forest-dwelling communities in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order in February, asking for the eviction of people whose claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006 had been rejected, played a prominent role. The proposed amendments to the Indian Forest Act (IFA), 1927, diminished the poll prospects of the BJP.

The BJP, with its leaders and local organisational strength, took the opposition political parties for granted. A cursory look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s rallies and speeches indicates the same. The duo focused only on highlighting the government’s role in abrogation of Article 370 and construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Rarely did they touch upon people’s real issues, such as land alienation in Adivasi areas, implementing the Forest Rights Act, mitigating poverty levels, addressing malnutrition and hunger, reforming the public distribution system and reducing the development deficit in the state.

The BJP has equated the development requirements of the Adivasi-populated state with that of mainstream areas. It could not assess the uniqueness of Jharkhand’s Adivasi society and the historical legacy of the Adivasi struggle for land rights. Nor could it speed up the state’s development.

One significant aspect is that the BJP has not been able to discern between its national aspirations and the regional and local issues of development in the states. The false cases filed against the Adivasis who participated in the Pathalgadi Movement, a democratic assertion of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution), mainly in the districts of Khunti, Gumla, Simdega and West Singhbhum backfired on the party. Of these, the BJP lost in three and was able to retain only Khunti. The BJP government tried to suppress this people’s movement by linking it with the Maoist insurrection. Another fault line is the negligence of Adivasi identity, especially in choosing the chief ministerial candidate. This may not have been a critical factor, yet it added to the general mood in Jharkhand.

Adivasi assertion

The shift in Adivasi votes and the losses in the Scheduled Tribes constituencies affected the BJP in a big way. The data shows that the BJP won only in two ST constituencies compared to 11 in the 2014 Assembly elections. In terms of vote share, the BJP’s came down from 46% in 2014 to 7% in 2019 in the ST constituencies. That decline is an indicator of the significant role of Adivasi votes in changing the political regime.

It is clear that the policies of the BJP government and the follow-up actions laid a fertile ground for the rise of opposition political parties in Jharkhand. ‘Don’t take your opposition lightly’ seems to be the big takeaway from the Jharkhand elections.

The results have larger implications for national politics in the sense that a strong and firm alliance can defeat the majoritarian. dominant party. It is also hope for those who were despairing that India’s multi-party system was in decline. From a citizen’s perspective, the BJP has underestimated the voter’s political wisdom and people’s ability to differentiate the emotive (Article 370, Ram Mandir, CAA) from the substantive (land rights, local development, etc) issues. Will the BJP top brass reflect on these and make course corrections, perhaps ahead of the Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections in 2020?

Hemant Soren sworn in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

Source – newsonair.com

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, JMM leader Hemant Soren took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of the state today. Governor Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Mr Soren at Morhabadi grounds in Ranchi. This is 44 year Soren’ second stint as Jharkhand Chief Minister. After taking the oath, newly sworn in Chief Minister called for people’s support to frame a new structure of the state. 

Along with Soren, Congress Legislature Party Leader Alamgir Alam state Congress president Rameshwar Oraon and only MLA of RJD Satyanand Bhokta were also sworn in as state cabinet ministers.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, Congress Chief Ministers Bhupesh Baghel, Ashok Gehlot, Former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, ex-CM of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, CPI Chief D Raja, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechuri, DMK Chief M K Stalin, MP M K Kanimozhi, AAP MP Sanjay Singh were among the leaders who witnessed the historic swearing-in ceremony of the Opposition-led government. In the 81 member Assembly, JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has won 47 seats in the recently concluded Assembly elections. BJP has got 25 seats.

Meanwhile in its maiden Cabinet meeting held today, Hemant Soren led coalition government took several important decisions. It announced to take back all the cases lodged against accused in Pathalgadi movement and early filling up of all posts lying vacant in the state government. It was also decided that Fastrack courts will be soon set up in all districts for early redressal of cases related to women and child sexual harassment.

AIR correspondent reports that JMM Senior Leader Stephen Marandi from Maheshpur constituency will be nominated as the Protem Speaker for the new Assembly session of the government to be held from January 6-8, in 2020. All the newly elected legislators will also take oath of office and secrecy in the new Assembly session.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Hemant Soren on taking oath as Jharkhand Chief Minister. In a tweet, Mr Modi assured all possible support from the Centre for Jharkhand’s growth. 

Jharkhand Assmebly election 2019, Gandey profile: JMM’s Irfan Ahmed to contest against BJP’s Jai Prakash Verma.

Source – firstpost.com

Gandey election 2019 | Gandey Assembly constituency of the Giridih district will go to polls in the fourth phase of the Assembly elections in Jharkhand. The seat which lies in the Koderma parliamentary constituency, is currently held by BJP’s Jai Prakash Verma.

Demography: According to Census 2011, Giridih district has a population of  24,45, 474. With a sex ratio of 944, the district ranks seventh in the state. The district comprises of thirteen blocks Gawan, Tisri, Deori, Dhanwar, Jamua, Bengabad, Gandey, Giridih, Birni, Bagdar, Sariya, Dumri and Pirtand. As per Census 2011, the district has 2558 villages and 5 towns distributed in four Assembly constituencies. Census 2011 figures indicated that the percentage share of scheduled caste population to total population was 13.31 percent while that of Scheduled tribes was 9.74 percent. Based on the number of total rural households in Census 2011 and BPL Revision Survey of 2010-11 the percentage of Below Poverty Line (BPL)  households in the rural areas is 3.77 percent.

The district is well know for the availability of ruby mica and has several large coal fields which contain one of the best qualities of metallurgical coal in India. The extensive deposited of mica in this district are of importance not only to Jharkhand but to India and other countries also. It is mostly found near the Tisri and Gawan blocks.

Following is a brief description of the Assembly constituency:

Constituency number: 31

Total electors: 2,69084

Males: 1,40,764

Females: 1,28,314

Transgender: 3

Polling stations: 350

Voter turnout in last Assembly Election: 70 percent

Major parties in the fray: BJP, Congress, JVMP,, AJSU, BSP, IUML

The constituency is currently represented by Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jai Prakash Verma who defeated Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Salakhan Soren in the 2014 elections. In 2009, Soren, then the incumbent MLA, was defeated by Congress’ Sarfraz Ahmad by a margin of over 8,000 votes. In 2005, Soren had registered a victory over Ahmad.

Ahmad is contesting the 2019 election on a JMM ticket while Arjun Baitha is the AJSU candidate. Verma is also in the fray on a BJP ticket . The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) has fielded Dilip Kumar Verma whereas the other candidates are BSP’s Avadhesh Kumar Singh, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Intekhab Ansari, IUML’s Md. Sayeed Alam and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation)’s Rajesh Kumar.

Fifteen Assembly constituencies will go to polls in the fourth phase of Assembly election on 16 December. The counting of votes for the five-phase Assembly elections will take place on 23 December.

The state is currently ruled by the BJP (37 Assembly seats) in alliance with the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) (5 Assembly seats). However, the BJP is seeking to come to power on its own after NDA allies, including Janata Dal-United (JDU) and AJSU decided to part ways with the saffron party.

The saffron party faces tough contest from the Opposition alliance consisting of the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and JMM. The alliance has rallied behind Hemant Soren as its chief ministerial candidate. JMM is contesting on 43 seats, the Congress on 31 and the RJD on seven seats in the 81-seat Assembly.

Out of the 81 Assembly constituencies in the state, nine are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 28 for Scheduled Tribes and 44 are of the general category. The term of the current Assembly will end on 5 January 2020.

Won’t implement CAA, NRC in Jharkhand: Hemant Soren.

Source – thehindu.com

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Opposition here over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, Hemant Soren, the chief ministerial face of the grand alliance in Jharkhand, said if voted to power his government would review both the CAA and National Register of Citizens and not implement them if they had potential to trigger violence in the State.

“Both the CAA and NRC sound similar. They will be evaluated afresh. If we feel Jharkhand could plunge into violence, both CAA and NRC will not be put into practice,” Mr. Soren told The Hindu here on Monday.

When his attention was drawn to the BJP’s concern over illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into Jharkhand through West Bengal and the porous international border, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president said, “The BJP came to power in many northeastern States highlighting the issue of infiltration of Bangladeshis. Now, the northeastern States are burning. They have backstabbed people there by bringing in CAA”

“This BJP-led government does not have any work to do. It has been raising divisive issues strategically and from time to time. The issues which can flare up people’s emotions are carefully chosen. Those are intended at dividing people on caste and religion lines leading to violence,” alleged Mr. Soren.

He observed, “They will not talk on unemployment, crumbling economy, losses being incurred by major public sector units, poverty and violence against women. The focus of the present government is only on dividing society as Hindu-Muslim and tribal and non-tribals.”

Alleging that that BJP always tries to reap political dividends through non-issues, Mr. Soren said, “In 2014, they came to power giving the wrong impression on the economy and law and order. When they miserably failed to find a solution to the issues they had highlighted, they came up with the revenge attack for the Pulwama terror strike. They stirred up people on India-Pakistan sentiments just before the 2019 elections.”

“Now, the BJP is preparing for the 2024 elections with these legal instruments. They have constructed a huge statue of Sardar Valabhbhai Patel although they do not have anything to do with the ideology of this great leader. They are now talking about construction of a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya. They know how to hoodwink people without delivering on genuine problems,” he charged.

Addressing an election rally at Dumka, where the JMM chief is contesting, Mr. Modi on Sunday had said violence over CAA was being stoked by the Congress and its allies and it was wrong as the Bill was cleared by Parliament.

The JMM, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal have stitched up a pre-poll alliance in Jharkhand where polling will come to end on December 20 and results will be declared on December 23.

Jharkhand poll: Voting for 12 seats ends, 57.96 per cent votes cast.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: Voting ended for 12 of the 17 assembly seats at 3 p.m. in the third phase of the polls with 57.96 per cent votes being cast on Thursday.

The voting will end at 5 p.m. for the Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Ramgarh and Barkatha assembly seats.

Jharkahnd Governor Draupdi Murmu cast her vote at ATI Ranchi while AJSU president Sudesh Mahtyo cast his vote along with his wife at Silli. Jayant Sinha cast his vote in Hazaribagh.

In the third phase the key candidates are three ministers — CP Singh, Ramchandra Sahis and Neera Yadav, Former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and former Deputy Chief Minister and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudesh Mahto.

Of the 17 seats, BJP, JMM and Congress had won 10, three and two seats respectively in the 2014 Assembly elections.

There is a direct fight on between the BJP, Congress and JMM candidates on seven seats. For the Silli seat the fight is between AJSU president Sudesh Mahto and JMM sitting legislator Seema Devi. There is a triangular fight on six seats. For some seats the fight is four-cornered or multi-cornered.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jharkahnd Chief Minister Raghubar Das have appealed to the voters to cast their votes.

Maoist-hit areas vote today in round three of Jharkhand polls.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Voting is underway to pick legislators from 17 seats of the 81 assembly constituencies of Jharkhand on Thursday in the third round of the five-phase election, amid heavy security.

The Election Commission has made heavy deployment of security forces, as 12 constituencies out of total 17 are stated to be under the influence of left-wing extremism (LWE).

Chief electoral officer Vinay Kumar Choubey said, “Like previous phases, there are some LWE-affected pockets in the third phase as well. In view of this, we have heli dropped polling personnel in 96 polling stations. Besides, 10 polling booths have been relocated due to security reasons.”

A total of three helicopters have been deployed to ferry the polling officials in sensitive areas, he added.

Out of 7,016 polling stations across 17 constituencies in eight districts, a total of 1,008 booths have been declared hyper-LWE sensitive, while 543 polling stations are LWE sensitive. Altogether 1,119 booths have been declared non-LWE hyper sensitive, while 2,672 are non-LWE sensitive booths, election officials said.

A crucial phase for the ruling BJP and the Opposition alliance, a group of three parties comprising Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), it will also decide the fate of two Cabinet ministers (CP Singh and Neera Yadav), former minister Rajendra Singh, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) chief Babulal Marandi and All Jharkhand Students Union or AJSU Party supremo Sudesh Mahto.

A total of 309 candidates, including 32 women, are contesting from 17 assembly seats. Besides, two Cabinet ministers, seven other sitting legislators — JP Yadav, Manish Jaiswal, Rajkumar Yadav, Yogeshwar Mahto, Sadhucharan Mahto, Ramkumar Pahan and Naveen Jaiswal — are also fighting to retain their seats.

Riding on the magic of prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP, which contesting from 16 seats, is confident of bagging the maximum number of seats in this phase. BJP had grabbed nine seats in the 2014 assembly elections. The alliance, which has fielded candidates in all 17 seats, is also hoping big gains from the phase.

In past assembly elections, Congress and JMM won two seats each, while Babulal Marandi led JVM-P bagged two seats. AJSU Party and CPI-M shared one seat each.

According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR), which has analysed the affidavits of all 309 candidates in the fray, a total of 91 candidates with criminal charges are contesting the polls in the third phase and 62 of them have serious criminal cases against them.

ASJU Party has fielded the maximum number of candidates with criminal charges (10), while BJP has put up eight and the alliance six. JVM-P’s eight candidates out of the total 17 in the fray for the third phase have declared criminal cases against them.

Buoyed by the encouraging voters turnout in the first phase (64.22%) and second phase (65.15%), the poll panel expects the turnout to be higher in the third phase. To attract the maximum number of voters, the Election Commission has declared 329 polling stations as model booths, of which 44 would be operated by women.

Jharkhand elections: Parties not walking talk on women candidates.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: While parties of all hues pledged 50 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, in their respective manifestoes for the ongoing Jharkhand Assembly elections, none have come even close to walking the talk by giving enough tickets to women candidates.

The parties, which promised to reserve 33 per cent tickets for women candidates, have failed to put even 17 per cent women on their tickets.While former chief minister Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) could put 11 women in fray, the most of all the contesting parties, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) came a close second, fielding 9 women candidates. The JVM announced nominees for all seats in the 81-member Assembly, the AJSU named candidates for 52.

However, in terms of percentage of women representation, JVM lags AJSU by 3.4%. While the percentage of AJSU’s women candidates stands at 16.9 per cent, the JVM falls marginally behind at 13.5 per cent.
At seven, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded the third most women candidates, while the Congress lags with a paltry 5 per cent. While the BJP is contesting 80 seats, the Congress is in fray in 31. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) fares even worse, with just 6 of its 43 candidates being women.
Political experts said the primary reason why the parties shied away from giving more tickets to women is that they are not taken seriously by voters, unless they are accomplished names in politics or other fields.
“Another reason why women leaders aren’t considered for tickets is that they are not as active in the field as their male counterparts. Most step out of their homes only when they are named candidates,” said a political expert, asking not to be named.

Only women who have established themselves in the field of politics are wooed for tickets by parties, he added.The contesting parties, however, asserted that winability, not gender, is the only criterion when it comes to deciding their poll candidates.

Maoists trigger IED blast, 2 CoBRA personnel hurt
Maoists triggered an IED blast near the Vijaygiri hillock, in the Tamar police station area of Ranchi on Sunday morning. The attack left two personnel of Commando Battalions for Resolute Action, (CoBRA) injured. The security personnel were escorting a polling party when the explosive device was detonated. Police said both the injured personnel are believed to be out of danger. “The CoBRA personnel were sent to escort polling officials on their way back from a booth,” ML Meena, ADG (Operations) and spokesperson for Jharkhand Police, said.

Won’t spare anyone if provoked: Rajnath
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India never provoked any nation, but, if incited, it would not spare anyone. Addressing a poll meeting at Jharia in Jharkhand, he said the measures taken by the Narendra Modi-led government to curb terrorism have cemented India’s reputation as one of the strongest nations in the world. “Our intention is clear. Our policy is clear…Hum duniya ke kisi desh ko chhedenge naihin; lekin jo hum ko chhedega, hum chhodenge nahin (we will never provoke any country, but, if provoked, will not spare anyone),” the Union minister said.

BJP to form Jharkhand government with absolute majority: Rudy

Source – telegraphindia.com

Asserting that the BJP would win with an absolute majority in Jharkhand, the party’s national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said people would cast votes in favour of “good governance and political stability”.

He insisted that the double-engine government of the BJP at the Centre and the state would ensure an all-round development of Jharkhand.

“The BJP has a long-term vision for the development of the state. If the governments at the Centre and the state are the same then development becomes easier,” Rudy told reporters here on Saturday.

Listing the achievements of the Raghubar Das government, he said the saffron party has worked for tribal welfare, infrastructure development and agricultural growth over the past five years.

“I, too, had voted in favour of Jharkhand’s statehood when the proposal was placed (in Parliament). But the irony was that after its creation, there was no political stability for several years. The state saw a person without any ideology or party becoming the chief minister,” Rudy said, referring to former Independent MLA Madhu Koda’s tenure from 2006 to 2008.

The BJP, however, has given a stable government to Jharkhand over the last five years, the BJP MP said.

“This time, too, people will vote for stability and good governance. The BJP will form a government in Jharkhand with absolute majority,” he stated.

The senior BJP leader said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had always taken a “keen interest” in the development of the state.

“The decisions taken by Modi and his government has always has had a positive effect on the states and the country as a whole — be it abrogation of Article 370 or ban on triple talaq,” he said.

Taking a dig at the Opposition alliance of the JMM, the Congress and the RJD, he said, “Parties functioning around their families can never work for the state’s growth.”

He said that Raghubar Das during the second of the five-phase assembly elections, would win with a comfortable margin from Jamshedpur (East).

“Unlike other political parties, the BJP runs on principals and policies,” he added.

A five-phase election to the 81 Assembly constituencies began in Jharkhand on November 30. Voting will conclude on December 20 and counting will be held three days later, on December 23.