Suraj Mandal,Shailendra Mahto act as agent of BJP : Besra

Jamshedpur,Feb 1 (UNI) Jharkhand People's Party(JPP) President Surya Singh Besra today criticised Jharkhand Vikas Dal (JVD) and Jharkhand Lok Morcha (JLM) for their anti-tribal statements and alleged that the duo were working as agents of the BJP.

Mr Mandal and Mr Mahto in a joint press meet here on Wednesday opposed the Centre's decision of not implementing the recommendations of the Delimitaiton Commission in Jharkhand and said the decision would favour the tribals, whose population had reduced to a mere 21.3 per cent in Jharkhand and the majority which consists about 78 per cent would be deprived.They also criticised the tradition of appointing a tribal chief minister in the state.

Reacting to the comment of the leaders, Mr Besra said the leaders actually wanted to create differences between the tribals and the non-tribals, who were co-existing peacefully and alleged that they were doing so at the behest of the BJP.

Mr Besra described the joining of hands of Mr Mandal and Mr Mahto as an ''omnious sign'' and said both the leaders, who used to oppose each other till recent times, might harm to a great extent if they continued to preach against the adivasis.

Echoing the same sentiment, Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP) chairman Salkhan Murmu also trained guns on the duo and said the leaders, who were advocating for inclusion of Kurmis and Mahtos in the adivasi list, had shifted their stands for their own vested interests.

''People of Jharkhand should boycott such opportunist leaders,'' Mr Murmu said.

He also rejected the reports that the tribal population came down to 21.3 per cent and said the statitics were wrong.

''On the contrary in some areas the tribal population exceeds thirty per cent. Tribals are being exploited for long, they should get their due share,'' he pointed out.

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