Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday reviewed party membership drive in Santhal Pargana. Das, who was on one day visit to Santhal Pargana, had a busy schedule as apart from holding State Cabinet meet in temple town Deoghar, he received feedback from officials on Shrawani Mela preparations and also went though the BJP membership drive in Santhal.
The Chief Minister Das, along with other senior BJP leaders received feedback on BJP membership drive. The CM asked the BJP cadres and leaders to reach out to people in Santhal highlighting the work done by Government in Santhal region.
BJP MLA from Rajmahal, Anant Ojha said, “In Santhal region, lots of development work has been carried out by Prime Minister and State Government. Rs 100 crore drinking water pipeline has been proposed in Shikaripara area mainly for tribal population.”
Ojha further said that apart from drinking water for tribal population, in last four and half years, several developmental steps have been carried out in Jharkhand which include setting up inland port in Sahibganj, construction work on bridge over river Ganga among others. Ojha said, “Modijee and Raghubar Das Government have gifted AIIMS in Deoghar, medical college in Dumka among others.”
Das also asked the BJP cadres to make inroads among tribal which till last Lok Sabha election had remained with JMM. But the victory of Sunil Soren from Dumka—the traditional stronghold of JMM— has made BJP euphoric.
The BJP to make inroads among tribal has set a target of making 3.5 lakh members from Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities. The State BJP has made BJP ST Morcha president, Ashok Baraik and office secretary Ravi Munda as in-charge of membership drive among ST. The BJP membership drive, which commenced on July 6, will run till July 30.
Out of five ST reserved Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, the party won three seats Dumka, Lohardaga and Khunti, while in two other reserved seats Rajmahal and Singhbhum the BJP candidates lost to JMM and Congress respectively. Out of three winning seats—in Khunti and Lohardaga, the BJP candidates Arjun Munda and Sudarshan Bhagat won with slender margin. Also, in Khunti and Lohardaga, the BJP candidates trailed in many Assembly constituencies. Out of total 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand 28 are reserved for STs, but in more than half of them BJP trailed in Lok Sabha elections.
As Santhal is tribal dominated area by targeting STs, the Saffron party has aimed to win at least 12 seats out of 18 Assembly seats in Santhal region. Presently, the BJP has eight MLAs, JMM seven, Congress two and JVM (P) one seat. The BJP has prepared the strategy to snatch Jarmundi, Poreyahat, Maheshpur, Shikaripara, Jama and Nala from Opposition camp.