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Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is BJP’s election co-incharge for Jharkhand, held a meeting with party leaders, MLAs, MPs and workers in Ranchi to prepare strategies for the assembly elections in the state due later this year.
The BJP had an outstanding performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand where it won eight seats and its ally AJSU Party bagged one, Chouhan said.
“We had a lead in 52 of the 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand in the parliamentary polls. The state played an important role in securing the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I congratulate the party leadership, booth workers and people of Jharkhand for the achievement,” he said.
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Chouhan alleged that the current JMM-led dispensation in the state is “India’s most corrupt government”.
“There is loot everywhere in the state, be it – sand, coal, mines and minerals. The chief minister is in jail and many leaders are being arrested on charges of corruption,” he said.
Chouhan said that it has become “necessary to free Jharkhand from bad governance and reinstate the BJP’s good governance to make the state ‘Viksit’ (developed) Jharkhand”.
The JMM-led dispensation has “not fulfilled its promises whether it is providing government jobs or unemployment allowances”, he said.
Replying to a question about the BJP’s defeat in five tribal-reserved seats in the Lok Sabha polls, Sarma said it happens in democracy but overall results were in favour of the saffron party.
Of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand, five seats – Singhbhum, Khunti, Lohardaga, Dumka and Rajmahal- are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST). Of the five reserved seats, the JMM won three and the Congress two.
“The BJP-led NDA won nine Lok Sabha seats and took a lead in 52 assembly segments. It means that if the assembly elections are now held in Jharkhand, we will win 52 seats, while the magic figure is 41 in the state,” he said.
The BJP even took a lead even in the assembly seat of Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren in the Lok Sabha polls, Sarma claimed.
“Had I been a chief minister of Jharkhand, I would have resigned due to this failure,” he said.
Jharkhand CM represents the Saraikela assembly segment, which falls under the Singhbhum Lok Sabha constituency. On this assembly seat, BJP’s Geeta Kora got 1,18,373 votes, while JMM’s Joba Majhi secured 98,488.
However, Majhi won the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat by defeating Kora with a margin of 1.68 lakh votes.
Noting that there is enough time for preparation for the assembly polls, Sarma asserted that the BJP would win 70 seats in Jharkhand.
Earlier, Chouhan and Sarma planted trees at ICAR, Namkum campus and Lichi Bagan in Ranchi’s Hatia area as part of the party’s ‘Ek ped maa ke naam’ initiative.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned about the environment. To make the earth safe for the coming generations, this initiative has been taken up,” Chouhan told reporters.