Former Jharkhand legislator Arvind Kumar Singh has joined the BJP. The three-time former MLA from Ichagarh constituency was welcomed into the BJP by party State president Babulal Marandi at a function in Chandil in Seraikela-Kharswan district on February 14.
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Mr. Singh first won the seat as an Independent candidate in 1995, and was re-elected in 2000 on a BJP ticket. However, he parted ways with the saffron party and joined the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), which was then led by Mr. Marandi and again won from the constituency in 2009.
Later, he quit the JVM-P, which subsequently merged with the BJP, and unsuccessfully contested the seat in the 2014 and 2019 polls. Besides Mr. Singh, several AJSU Party activists, including its Jamshedpur Mahanagar Committee leader Samresh Singh and Congress workers also joined the BJP.
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Addressing the gathering, Mr. Marandi said Arvind Kumar Singh's return to the BJP will further strengthen the organisation.
Lambasting the present dispensation in the State, Mr. Marandi said former Chief Minister Hemant Soren was behind the bars over corruption charges even though his party, the JMM, claims to fight for 'Jal-Jungle-Jameen'.
Alleging that the JMM-led government was indulged in "loot" over the last four years, he called upon Chief Minister Champai Soren to work in the interest of the people or "face similar consequences such as his predecessor who had done injustice to tribals and Dalits".
In his address, Mr. Singh said he returned to the BJP to take forward the commitments of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Elections to the 81-member Assembly in Jharkhand are due later this year.