PM Modi in JMM bastion, asks people to throw out 'looters'

"Throw out the looters by giving BJP a two-third majority vote for stability in Jharkhand and its development," Modi told an election rally here.

Addressing poll rallies here and at Barheit, the two seats from where Chief Minister Hemant Soren is contesting this time, he said the state has the potential to fill up the coffers of the country but was being looted.

Taking a swipe at JMM Chief Shibu Soren and his son Hemant Soren without taking their names, Modi said, "The father and son filled their own coffers and did nothing for the poor."

Modi said just as a mother does not give sweets to her son if he commits a wrong deed so should the people punish the "looters" in the final phase of voting.

"Shouldn't the youth here get employment so that they don't have to go thousands of miles away for job?"

Asking the people not to believe in rumours that they would lose land if BJP is voted to power, he said, "No one can snatch tribal land ... Welfare of tribals can only strengthen the country."

Source: Chhattisgarh News in Hindi and MP News in Hindi

Assembly elections: Political instability keeping Jharkhand behind

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also flagged the issue in his campaign speeches, terming it as the single-most important factor behind lack of development in the natural resources-rich state since it was created on November 15, 2000.

So did other political parties. But why is it that on an average there is a new government in the state every one and a half years?

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who had headed fragile coalition governments three times, said, "The single biggest factor for instability is the absence of institutional development."

A candidate from Kharsawan constituency in the latest round of Assembly election, Munda elucidated his point a little more.

"To implement state, district or panchayat plans, for instance, a policy is required and to put this policy into effect institutional development is a must, but Jharkhand is too young a state to allow it to happen."

Munda, now the leader of Opposition, explained that coalition governments in older states could last because they already had the well-developed institutions in place.

Former deputy chief minister and AJSU president Sudesh Mahto, who had been a minister in all the BJP-led governments, however, blamed instability on the lack of leadership.

"Lack of leadership is responsible for Jharkhand’s under development," Mahto felt.

Madhu Koda, who headed a 23-month-old UPA government, said pulls and pressures from regional parties making up a coalition government were responsible for the instability.

"Regional parties have influence in more than 50 percent of areas in the state, and people naturally think they can benefit from them," Koda, who is now contesting from Majhgaon seat and his MLA wife from Jagannathpur constituency, said. Voicing dimay at the state of affairs, Koda observed, "Pulls and pressures in coalition politics are natural, but there should not be any personal agenda while working for the state."

Koda and many of his ex-cabinet ministers drawn from different parties or independent MLAs had served jail sentences of varying period before coming out on bail in connection with corruption cases.

The fate of his former cabinet colleagues Kamlesh Singh of NCP and Bhanu Pratap Sahi of Navjawan Shangharsh Morcha has already been sealed in the EVM after the end of the first phase polling on November 25.

Source: Chhattisgarh News in Hindi and MP News in Hindi