BJP's aarrogance' led to Jharkhand debacle: Sharad Pawar

 The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's 'arrogance and money-power' have been defeated in Jharkhand, as the results indicate, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar said here on Monday.

"The results of Jharkhand Assembly elections clearly show that the people of the country have lost faith in the BJP. The electorate of Jharkhand has rejected BJP's arrogant tactics of using money-power through its government at the Centre," Pawar told mediapersons.

He said that with successive defeats in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the BJP has already lost five states inside a year.

"This has boosted the confidence of people in other states. Wherever there is an opportunity, people will make it (BJP) bite the dust. The BJP's downslide has begun and nobody can arrest its downfall," Pawar asserted.

He congratulated the people of Jharkhand for showing a new direction to the people of India by voting out the ruling BJP.

The JMM-Congress-RJD combine is heading for a clear mandate in the Jharkahnd Assembly polls and is set to form the new government, as per the latest Election Commission counting trends.

As per the votes counted so far, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) together have won or are leading in 46 constituencies out of 81 seats. The BJP, on the other hand, has won or is leading in 26 seats.

Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizens (NRC), the 79-year old NCP chief accused the BJP leadership of deliberately spreading confusion by adopting a dual-faced approach.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that there was no opposition to NRC in the Cabinet or in the Parliament is wrong. In Rajya Sabha, NCP member Praful Patel and myself had spoken on the ramifications of NRC.

"In his speech to the joint sitting of Parliament, the President had spoken over it as if it was the policy of the government. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the decision has been taken in the interest of the country in the Parliament, but the Prime Minister speaks something else outside," Pawar said.

He reiterated that instead of taking measures to bring back peace, the BJP government seems hell-bent on creating a communal divide and damaging the unity and integrity of the country.

Pawar said that agitations against CAA-NRC are being held across cities, all the states and the entire country, but appealed to the masses to protest peacefully without taking the law into their hands or targeting the nation's assets.IANS