Jharkhand CM slams JMM, Cong for 'exploiting' tribals

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Thursday accused the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of exploiting the tribal community for years to derive political mileage.

But they did not do anything to improve the standard of life of the tribals and the poor, Das said at a press conference here.

"The mineral-rich Jharkhand suffered enormously due to political instability till 2014. The people are now aware and will not allow the Congress and the JMM to loot the state anymore," Das claimed.

Highlighting the achievements of his government during the last five years, Das said out of the 68 lakh families of the state, only 38 lakh had electricity earlier.

However, in the past five years, the rest 30 lakh families were provided with electricity, he said.

The BJP government in the state also focused to improve infrastructure, Das said.

He added that eighty per cent of the construction of the proposed 70 grids and 200 sub-stations will be completed by December this year.

The chief minister is facing a challenge from his former cabinet colleague Saryu Roy from Jamshedpur (East) after the latter did not get BJP ticket from his seat Jamshedpur (West).

Elections for the seat is scheduled on December 7.