'People rising above BJP's divisive politics': KC Venugopal on Jharkhand poll trends

The counting of votes in the Jharkhand Assembly Elections is underway and the latest trends show that the alliance of Congress-JMM and RJD is heading towards a majority mark. Attacking the BJP, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Monday asserted that the Jharkhand assembly election results show that the people are rising above the 'divisive politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party'.

'They want to bank upon the divisive issues'

"This is a clear victory of the democratic process in the country. It is evident that the common people are realising that they (BJP) are polarising the people of the country with divisive issues for their political benefits," Venugopal told news agency ANI. The Congress leader said that the people want to analyze the performance of the incumbent state government for the assembly elections. "However, they (BJP) are not ready to be judged on their programs and policies. They want to bank upon the divisive issues. Now the people are realizing that and this is why they have given us more seats in the assembly," Venugopal said.

'What was the hurry'?

"These people are not interested in addressing the issues of the common people, like unemployment, inflation, farmers' distress, and economic slowdown. They are only interested in dividing people and diverting their attention to divisive issues," he added. Venugopal also accused the BJP of passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, through the Parliament without proper discussion so as to win the Jharkhand assembly elections.

"The Central government motive is very clear. When Article 370 was passed, they were aiming for Haryana and Maharashtra elections. However, the people rejected that. Now, just before the Jharkhand election, they passed the Citizenship Bill without discussion," he said. "What was the hurry? They were eyeing the Jharkhand elections," Venugopal added. 

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Poll battle

The BJP which is facing the formidable combination of JMM-Congress-RJD is currently leading in 25 seats. Meanwhile, JMM and its allies are leading in 45 seats and Babulal Marandi's JVM on 3 seats. The halfway mark in the 81-seat Assembly is 40 seats. The BJP and its allies AJSU, LJP who were initially touted to jointly contests the polls had a fallout leading to both parties fielding their own candidates against their saffron ally. Meanwhile, there is a possibility of AJSU and LJP joining a post-poll alliance with the BJP.

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(With ANI inputs)