RANCHI: Jharkhand’s first chief minister Babulal Marandi, who finally returned into saffron fold after 14 years, said that the country is secular because of ‘Hindutva’ ideology which is being taken forward politically by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Marandi said, “Most of the political parties here are limited to one or another family, and if there is any party which is based on ideology, it is the BJP and hence am returning from where I had started.”
Attacking the Hemant Soren government, Marandi said that it is being run on Twitter and they are saying that treasury is empty.
“Everybody knows how funds are raised in a state; they don’t want to work and blame everything on treasury, which they claim to be empty,” Marandi said. If this government failed to perform, people automatically will throw it out of power, he said. Referring to Chaibasa violence, where seven people were beheaded allegedly by ‘Patthagadi’ supporters, Marandi threatened to hit the streets if the state government fails to bring perpetrators to books.
Welcoming Marandi back into the BJP fold, Union Home Minister Amit Shah revealed that he had been trying to do so ever since he was appointed BJP president in 2014.
Political observers see this re-union as a win-win situation for both BJP and Marandi as the BJP, after the Assembly election debacle, had been looking for a tribal face in Jharkhand as an appeal in the Santhal region at a time when JVM (P) has repeatedly been losing ground in Jharkhand.
The party functionary said that induction of Babulal Marandi into the party also indicates that a new team will be formed, where the two former CMs Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das may not be assigned any role and likely to be given roles at the Centre.
JVM-P rebels join Cong
Two expelled JVM (P) MLAs, Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey also joined Congress party in New Delhi. The two JVM (P) MLAs were expelled from the party for anti-party activities apparently for a smooth merger with BJP. They were also charged of meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi without any directions from the party chief.