Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Monday said that he will not be fighting the lok Sabha election, which is expected to be held in April this year.
Putting talks doing rounds about his candidature to rest, the senior BJP leader made it clear that he is not very keen to fight the upcoming election. However, he will work to ensure that the party’s candidates register victory in the election.
“I have decided not to contest lok Sabha election. The party will decide the candidates. However, I am of the opinion that there are several other party workers who can be eligible candidates. I will work for them to ensure their victory,” said Munda in a brief media interaction at BJP office in Sakchi this afternoon.
It may be mentioned that in 2009 Munda, fielded by the BJP in Jamshedpur, had defeated his nearest rival Suman Mahto of JMM by 1,19,73 votes. Proving all political pundits wrong Munda had bagged 3,19,630 votes while outgoing MP, Suman secured 1,99,957 votes. JVM (D) candidate and strongman Arvind Singh alias Malkhan Singh came distant third with 79,089 votes and Shailendra Mahato, the AJSU candidate stood fourth with 37,400 votes. However, in 2011 he resigned as MP after he took over as the CM of Jharkhand.
The former Chief Minister also attacked the Hemant Soren Government and accused it of failing to check corruption in every area, including transfer-posting processes. The mineral-rich Jharkhand lagged behind as the government failed to check rampant corruption prevailing in the State, he added.
He also expressed concerns over rising crime graph in the city and noted that immediate steps need to be taken to check the crime. “I think that the police administration needs to take effective measures to curb the rising crime. If immediate steps are not taken things may go beyond control,” he noted.