Party will back candidates with nationalist thinking, public welfare mindset: Jharkhand BJP president

Ranchi: As the hectic parleys for civic body polls are underway across various municipal bodies in the state, opposition BJP on Friday huddled into a meeting of its office bearers and workers at the party office here to chalk out modalities for the election. While the election is on non-political lines, every party is preparing plans to back candidates linked to them.State BJP president Aditya Sahu said, “There is a need to ensure the victory of such candidates who are committed to the welfare of people and believe in nationalist thinking.”Notably, BJP has been demanding civic body polls on party lines. “However, the incumbent regime, fearing defeat, has decided against it. The govt has hatched a conspiracy to influence the election through use of the administrative setup, which is why they are also not conducting polls through the EVMs,” he claimed.Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi, who was present during the meeting, asked workers to ensure that candidates who don’t believe in appeasement politics must be backed.From within BJP too, many workers have already staked claims for mayor and councillor posts across 48 civic bodies in the state.Meanwhile, in another development, the brother of JMM MLA Dasrath Gagrai, Vijay Singh Gagrai from Chakradharpur, joined BJP along with his supporters in the presence of the state party leadership on Friday.After joining BJP, Vijay said, “I decided to join BJP after being impressed by the work of PM Narendra Modi. I have now committed myself to implement the BJP’s policies and programme on the ground as a true foot soldier.”