Jharkhand Polls: "To defeat a minister is not difficult," says JDU's Saryu Roy as he battles Cong's Banna Gupta

He said that when he contested as an independent in 2019, he was able to defeat former CM Raghubar Das, and this time for him it is a 'small minister who is facing corruption charges.'

"Last time when I was contesting independent, I defeated the CM. This time I am in the electoral fray against a small minister who is facing corruption allegations and many other charges, he is being saved by the government otherwise, he would have been in jail, to defeat such a minister is not a difficult task," he told ANI on Sunday.

Saryu Roy is in the electoral fray against Jharkhand minister and Congress candidate Banna Gupta for the elections to be held on November 13 and November 20.

Earlier, Banna Gupta criticised the BJP and the party's election co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma.

"Talking about Hemant Biswa Sarma, I don't take him seriously, I think he is a 'chinese item', like how a Chinese pen is used once and then thrown away, he is the same as there is no weight to what he is saying. He is only here to set a narrative but people don't even understand half of what he is saying. He talks about tribal but even after doing the work done by them he does not understand their plight. Assam is drowning but he does not care for it, he is cares more about Jharkhand," he told ANI on Sunday.

He further hit out at the BJP-JD(U) alliance, claiming, "Whenever a flood comes then a snake and a mouse sits on the same tree, similarly BJP and JD(U) are sitting together now. Earlier Nitish Kumar was criticised in the name of DNA, he used to a big enemy of BJP. It was said that there is guilt in his DNA too, meaning even his ancestors are criticised, but now an alliance is there in the central government so they have an understanding."

The BJP is in an alliance with All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) party, who will contest 10 seats; Janata Dal (United) contesting 2 seats; Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) contesting one seat.

Notably, the current ruling alliance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress has retained their partnership and is going to contest with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Communist Part of India (Marxist-Lennist). JMM-Congress had earlier decided to contest 70 seats combined, with the other alliance partners getting 11 seats to share between them.

Elections are being held on 81 seats of Jharkhand assembly in two phases on November 13 and November 20.

A total of 2.60 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in Jharkhand and there are 1.31 crore male and 1.29 crore female voters. The state has 11.84 lakh first-time voters and there are 66.84 lakh young voters. (ANI)