Hemant Soren.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chaibasa: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday accused the BJP of buying some JMM leaders after the saffron camp "failed to scare" him and "topple" his government in the last five years.
Soren also asserted that the Jharkhand assembly elections this time would be held between two forces- one that represents capitalists and another that stands for tribals, Dalits, poor people, farmers and labourers.
Addressing an election rally at Chaibasa in support of JMM candidate Deepak Birua, the chief minister accused the saffron party of making efforts to topple his government for the past five years.
Birua, a state minister, filed his nomination papers from the Chaibasa assembly constituency on Wednesday.
“They (BJP) have been making efforts to topple our government for the past five years. They sent me to jail but failed to topple the government. After failing to scare me, they bought some of our leaders,” Soren said.
He also alleged that some leaders from his community had become "agents of the BJP as they had taken money".
Though Soren did not name any JMM leader, he apparently meant former chief minister Champai Soren who recently joined the BJP.
Hemant Soren claimed that several chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and the entire saffron camp machinery are "after a tribal chief minister to dethrone him from power".
“They (BJP) have nothing to do with the tribal and moolvasi (original inhabitants) of the state. They have been eyeing the mineral resources of the state,” Soren said.
He added that BJP leaders from across the country are camping in Jharkhand.
“The Assam chief minister has been moving in Jharkhand. But, his government has not given the tribal status to 25-30 lakh people who have gone to Assam from Jharkhand. I have written to him to provide the status of tribal to them,” the JMM leader said.
Soren urged voters to exercise their franchise carefully in the elections, and alleged that BJP workers might make an attempt to "steal votes through government machinery and from electronic voting machines (EVMs)".
He said that his government worked for the development and uplift of tribal, dalit, poor, women, farmers and labourers in the state.
Soren said that they would deliver Rs 1 lakh to every household if voted to power and the amount under Maiyan Samman Yojana would be increased to Rs 2,500 from Rs 1,000 from December.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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