New Delhi:
Hemant Soren, the chief ministerial candidate of the opposition alliance, which is on way to a decisive victory over the ruling BJP, Monday said the people of Jharkhand have given a clear majority to JMM/Congress/RJD combine. Soren, who has been projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance, said all the opposition partners will meet to "strategize the future course of action". He thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his father and JMM president Shibu Soren.
He also thanked the people of all sections and the media. The people of Jharkhand have given a clear majority to the JMM/Cong/RJD alliance. A new chapter begins, which will prove a milestone, Soren, who is the working president of JMM, told a press conference soon after trends showed a clear majority to the opposition alliance.
JMM had contested in 43 of the total 81 seats and is leading in 29, the Congress is ahead in 14 of the 31 seats that it has fought in and RJD is ahead in one out of the seven seats.
According to the trends, Hemant Soren, 44, is set to become the chief minister of Jharkhand again, with trends show that he is leading in both the seats -- Dumka and Barhait -- in the assembly elections on Monday. As the JMM-led alliance appeared set to cross the majority mark in the Jharkhand Assembly polls on Monday, the Congress exuded confidence that the alliance will form the government with Hemant Soren as chief minister.
All India Congress Committee in-charge for Jharkhand, RPN Singh said: "We will form the government as we fought the elections for the people of the state by raising issues that affect their lives and livelihoods. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah tried to divert the attention of the people away from fundamental issues but the people did not get swayed."
Reiterating that Hemant Soren of the JMM will be the chief minister as declared earlier, Singh said the Jharkhand results are a defeat of BJP's "arrogance and diversionary tactics".
Congress coordinator for Jharkhand polls Ajay Sharma said this is the defeat of BJP's corruption and its arrogance.
In Dumka, Soren was facing a tough fight from Woman and Child Welfare minister Louis Marandi of the BJP and in Barhait his main opponent is Simon Malto of the saffron party.
Hemant Soren would be succeeding the BJP's Raghubar Das, who was the first chief minister in the state to complete a five-year term. Since its bifurcation from Bihar in 2000, Jharkhand had nine governments and three stints of President's Rule.
The son of Shibu Soren, one of the tallest leaders in the state and a two-time chief minister, Hemant Soren led from the front challenging the high-powered BJP campaign based on a national narrative and led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
If the alliance wins, it will the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)’s stint in power. The party was at the forefront for its statehood demand nearly two decades back. Hemant Soren had concentrated on local issues instead of countering BJP's offensive led by Modi.
