Deoghar (Jharkhand) [India], November 15 : Assam Chief Minister and BJP co-in-charge for Jharkhand polls, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Friday slammed the JMM-led government in the state, alleging that it fully looted the people and that it did not implement the poll promises.
"This is a government of lies. What did they say? They would give gold coins to daughters and daughters-in-law at the time of their wedding. Did they give any gold coins to anyone?... Where did all the gold coins go? Alamgir Alam pocketed all gold coins," Sarma said while speaking at an election rally here.
"ED, CBI seized all the money from the residence of Alamgir Alam. Rs 300 Crores was seized from the residence of a Congress MP. Rs 35 Crores was seized from the residence of Alamgir Alam. They fully looted Jharkhand. Today, JMM is giving a ticket to Alamgir Alam's wife, from Pakur," he added.
On May 15, the ED had arrested Alam in an alleged money laundering case. Before his arrest on May 6, the ED had arrested Alam's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Sanjiv Kumar Lal and the latter's domestic help after the seizure of more than Rs 36 crore from a flat linked to them.
Earlier in the day, when asked about the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's chopper being stopped in Godda, Sarma told ANI, "You (Rahul Gandhi) are such a big leader. You should feel good if you get 10 minutes extra time to be in Jharkhand. The air, water and people are so good here."
"They (Congress) should not be in fear of PM Modi as everyone loves him. But, Congress must understand that I am not scared of Rahul Gandhi because Congress has destroyed the country in 70 years," he added.
Rahul Gandhi's helicopter was unable to take off on Friday due to not having the clearance from Air Traffic Control (ATC).
Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday wrote a letter to the Election Commission seeking its intervention after party leader Rahul Gandhi's chopper was delayed due to "no-fly-zone restriction" enforced "due to protocol of other leaders in the vicinity."
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X there should be a level-playing field in campaigning and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign "cannot take precedence over that of all others".
Ramesh wrote a letter to EC saying that the level-playing field should not be disrupted.
Voting for the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections concluded, with voting taking place in 43 out of the state's 81 seats. Elections on the remaining 38 seats will be conducted on November 20. The counting will be held on November 23.