The Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren is camping in Madhupur and burning the midnight oil for ensuring the victory of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Hafizul Hassan Ansari in the Madhupur Legislative Assembly constituency by-polls. Hemant Soren’s cabinet colleague Hafizul Hassan is the Minister for Tourism, Sport, Youth, and Minority Affairs. The young Hafiz was inducted into Soren’s cabinet in February this year. He is contesting the seat held by his late father Haji Hussain Ansari, one of the founding fathers of Jharkhand State. No wonder, Soren is asking the voters to pay real tribute to Haji Saheb by electing his son from the Madhupur seat.
Hemant Soren alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to win the elections by purchasing the votes of the people and their interests will not be allowed to be fulfilled. He added that if the BJP is not able to buy votes it tries to poach the MLAs. He compared the BJP and their leaders to a fox from whom the people needed to remain alert. Soren cautioned the voters against the tactics of the BJP. He recalled that JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and Late Haji Hussain Ansari gave away everything for the cause of Jharkhand and reminded that the time has come when people should ensure the victory of Hafizul Hassan by a huge margin. He pointed out that his government announced a loan waiver for the farmers while 15 lakh new green ration cards have been generated and given to the people of Jharkhand. He recalled that the previous year when Coronavirus struck, his government brought back the poor laborers in flights and sent them to their homes comfortably.
The JMM de facto chief Hemant Soren also lambasted the BJP for importing leaders and candidates from other parties. He mocked the BJP for giving the BJP ticket to All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) turncoat Ganga Narayan Singh, who joined the BJP last month. He said the BJP is such a big party of leaders from other parties with different ideologies.
The Grand Alliance partners — Congress and RJD are also campaigning for JMM’s Hafizul Hassan. The state Congress leader Rameshwar Oraon camped in Madhupur for three days and appealed to the voters to elect his cabinet colleague Hafizul Hassan. Congress MLAs from Jamtara and Poreyahat — Irfan Ansari and Pradeep Yadav also campaigned for Hassan.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA from Sarath Randhir Singh and the BJP candidate Ganga Narayan Singh are engaged in the door-to-door campaigns and corner meetings due to Coronavirus. Senior BJP leaders Babulal Marandi, State BJP president Deepak Prakash and former chief minister Raghubar Das are also camping in Madhupur in an effort to snatch the seat from the JMM. The BJP candidate Ganga Narayan Singh has 5 daughters and one son. Family planning lessons are for Muslims only!
Ganga Narayan Singh has a fleet of vehicles – 20 to be precise which include SUVs, Jeep, and bikes. He is a money bag. Perhaps, Hemant Soren knows the power of money and muscle power, which the BJP has in abundance. It is for these reasons that Hemant Soren does not want to take a chance even in a bypoll of no consequence. The Grand Alliance government led by Hemant Soren is firmly placed in the saddle.
It may be recalled that in December 2019, the Late Haji Hussain Ansari won from the Madhupur constituency by 23,069 votes. The JMM candidate Hafizul Hassan seems to be riding a sympathy wave as the Madhupur residents want to ensure Haji Saheb’s son’s victory as a tribute to the late leader who toiled for the masses.
