Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress MP from Singhbhum, Jharkhand, Geeta Koda, wife of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday after quitting the Congress.
According to ANI sources, Geeta Koda was dissatisfied with the alliances formed by the Congress party in the state and sent her resignation to the party’s high command.
Her departure is being seen as a setback for the Congress as they gear up for the electoral battle.
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Koda, who was the lone Congress MP in the state, joined the BJP in the presence of state party chief Babulal Marandi.
While talking to the media, Marandi dismissed the existence of the INDIA bloc in light of recent decisions by Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal to reject alliances with the Congress in West Bengal and Punjab.
“INDI alliance was not in existence, and in the future as well, it will not come into existence. Mamata Banerjee is saying that she will not be giving any seats to the left and Congress in West Bengal. Arvind Kejriwal has also clarified his stance on Punjab and Haryana, saying that he will not be doing seat sharing,” he said.
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Regarding the BJP’s prospects in Jharkhand in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Marandi said, “Last time the NDA alliance won 12 seats and missed two seats, this time we are going to win those two seats as well, and we are preparing for the same.”
Further commenting on the arrest of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Hemant Soren by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, Marandi attributed it to Soren’s ‘karma.’
He accused Soren of looting the state for four years, running a government with corrupt officials and mediators and that he had alerted the government about lapses in various projects, but Soren paid no attention, leading to his eventual arrest.
Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED following summonses in the alleged land scam case, with the probe being focussed on the alleged generation of significant proceeds of crime through the forgery of official records to acquire valuable land parcels using fake documents.
(With ANI Inputs)
