'Agar himmat hai toh samne se lado': Hemant Soren claims BJP spending 'billions' to tarnish his image

NEW DELHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday trained guns at Bharatiya Janata Party and challenged it to contest the upcoming assembly elections upfront instead of attacking him "from behind."

Soren claimed that BJP used the central agencies and billions of rupees have been spent to spoil his image.

"Agar himmat hai toh samne se lado - kayar ki tarah lagatar peeche se vaar kyu? (If you have courage then fight from the front - why keep attacking from behind?)" Soren said in a social media post on X.

अगर हिम्मत है तो सामने से लड़ो - कायर अंग्रेजों की तरह लगातार पीछे से वार क्यों ?

कभी ED, कभी CBI, कभी कोई एजेंसी - कभी कोई और।

अब अरबों रुपये खर्च कर दिए मेरी छवि बिगाड़ने में।

अजब हालात है

11 साल से केंद्र में भाजपा की सरकार है, 5 साल राज्य में रही - ख़ुद को डबल इंजिन… pic.twitter.com/XarBMGdVMB

— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) November 7, 2024

"Sometimes ED, sometimes CBI, sometimes one agency - sometimes someone else. Now billions of rupees have been spent to spoil my image. The situation is strange," he added.

Soren also took a dig at "double engine" rhetoric of BJP and said that the BJP-led Jharkhand government had closed down schools, cancelled ration cards and did not conduct the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) exam during its term.

"The BJP government is in power at the center for 11 years, in power in the state for 5 years - calling itself a double engine government. Then why did only the elephant fly in the five years of Raghubar government? Why were 13000 schools closed in five years? Why were 11 lakh - yes 11 lakh ration cards cancelled in five years?" he asked.

"Why was not even one JPSC exam conducted in five years? Why was old age/widow pension not increased and not received in five years? Why did hundreds die of hunger in the state in five years? Why in five years, youth were advised to make bicycles and sell bananas?" he added.

The 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 13 and 20, with vote counting scheduled for November 23. In the 2020, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won 30 seats, the BJP won 25 seats, and the Congress won 16 seats.