Grand alliance not a challenge, father's blessings with me: Jayant Sinha

BJP's candidate from Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Thursday denied facing any challenge from the grand alliance candidate while asserting that his father's blessings are always with him.

Jayant's father Yashwant Sinha is a former BJP leader who has lately been a vocal critic of the party's policies.

Speaking to ANI, Jayant said, "I have always received the blessings of my father and I am a loyal worker of BJP. I am fighting these elections with the support of Prime Minister and the Chief Minister and the organisational resources. We will definitely win in this election."

"Mahagathbandhan has no strength. There candidate who is contesting against me is a father figure and I respect him. I want to request him to take care of his health in this extremely hot weather," Jayant added while downplaying the effect of grand alliance in the region.

He also briefed about his election manifesto and said that it has five key points concerning the welfare of farmers, youth, underprivileged, tribals and natives.

"We are getting the support of the public everywhere in Jharkhand and we will win all the 14 seats of the state. We have made a detailed 'Sankalp Patra' which also has a report card of our performance. We will double farmer's income, provide employment to youth, will give basic facilities to all households and would focus on health and cleanliness. We will also preserve the rights of the natives and tribals. We will also work towards implementing Sarna code at the earliest ", Sinha said.

Sinha also asserted that he has worked extensively in ensuring the implementation of the Central government's scheme in Hazaribagh and Ramgarh regions.

"Be it the ODF initiative, Jan-Dhan Yojana or constructing Jal Minar through district mineral fund, we have excellently implemented all these Central government's initiative on the ground. Along with these, there are Central funded projects of medical college, railway line, airport, science sports centre, NTPC thermal plant among others. In all, we have brought an investment of about 25 thousand crores in the region," said Sinha.

Sinha had won the 2014 election from Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency. This time he is facing competition from grand alliance supported Congress candidate Gopal Sahu and CPI's Bhuvneshwar Mehta.