On Jharkhand election eve, Hemant Soren takes a swipe at BJP: ‘Where are the infiltrators? None found’ On how BJP will do in the polls, Jharkhand CM says, “Rural areas mein toh peeteenge hi peetenge, urban areas mein bhi peetenge (The BJP will bite the dust in not only rural areas but will lose votes in urban areas as well)." Two days after the Jharkhand BJP deleted a video on alleged infiltrators in the state following complaints to the Election Commission (EC), Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren took a swipe at the party on Tuesday, saying: “The institutions responsible for finding them (infiltrators) said there were none.
So, where are Soren, who was arrested in January on money laundering charges and got out on bail in June, accused the Centre of using the “ED (Enforcement Directorate) and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) or I-T (Income-Tax Department) to weaken the Opposition and nothing more”. families for 10 years as they are so poor that if their election we went to the people on developmental issues.
If we compare the machineries that we were up against, there is a massive change. This is the first time in the history of Jharkhand that the elections are being held this early. So, we did not get time to prepare better. Earlier, we did not have many complaints against the Election Commission but now there are a lot of questions that have come up, including (non-cognizance of) hate speeches or in general the conduct of elections.
There is no level playing field on the ground and we felt it very clearly. The Centre uses these machineries very smartly. Even the ED, the CBI, and I-T are active during the elections. The attempt was to impact us psychologically.” The JMM leader said he was “not nervous” about the results as the INDIA bloc’s campaign centred around his government’s development work. Asked what he thinks how the BJP will fare in the elections, Soren said, “Rural areas mein toh peeteenge hi peetenge, urban areas mein bhi peetenge (The BJP will bite the dust in not only rural areas but will lose votes in urban areas as well).
Minorities, by default, don’t vote for the BJP and now the middle class and other voters too won’t.”