Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday appealed to people of Jharkhand to defeat the BJP in the ongoing state Assembly elections.
At a press conference held in Ranchi, the former finance minister said the outcome of the ongoing assembly polls will be an important turning point with the saffron party on one side and secular and progressive parties on the other.
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“We dented the BJP in Haryana, denied BJP power in Maharashtra and appeal to people to defeat the BJP in Jharkhand,” the former Finance Minister said.
Jharkhand is holding a five-phase election and the second phase is scheduled on December 7. The first phase of election concluded on November 30 with 62.87 per cent voter turnout.
In the last elections held in 2014, the BJP had won 37 seats while its partner AJSU won five seats. While the opposition parties Congress won six seats, JMM won 19 and JVM won eight. The remaining six seats were won by other parties.
This time, BJP and AJSU are contesting separately in the polls.
The Congress and the JMM are fighting this election as allies along with RJD. In the 81-seat assembly of Jharkhand assembly, the Congress will contest on 31 seats in alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which is contesting on 43 seats and Rashtriya Janata Dal contesting on 7 seats.
Meanwhile, BJP is campaigning hard in Jharkhand with PM Narendra Modi being the main campaigner. Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah and several other senior leaders are aggressively campaigning in the state.