UPA in direct contest with BJP in Koderma: Kripa Shankar

Ranchi, Nov 4 (UNI) Asserting that the UPA has put all its efforts to check the division of votes in Koderma byelection, the alliance's observer for bypoll to Koderma parliamentary seat Kripa Shankar Singh today claimed that the party candidate will win.

Talking to mediapersons here after returning from a campaign from Koderma, Mr Singh said learning from previous experiences, the UPA had tried to stop the division of votes on the basis of castes.

The main contest of the UPA in Koderma would be with the BJP, he added.

Coming down heavily on former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babual Marandi, Mr Singh said he was not in the fray as he did not had the moral right to fight the election after resigning from the Lok Sabha and the BJP.

''Mr Marandi has done nothing for the development of Koderma and people would not support him again as he had resigned for personal reasons. This byelection was a outcome of his personal rivalry with the BJP,'' he claimed.

Mr Singh alleged that Mr Marandi and Pranav Verma, the NDA candidates, were supported by BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and the RSS and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee respectively.

He said three BJP MLAs were campaigning in his favour and instead of taking stern action against them, the party had only suspended them.

Replying to a query he said, the Congress had extended its support to Madhu Koda in Jharkhand to run the government properly.

UNI AM JYN VD RS1707