'I ignite fire against...': Himanta responds to Hemant Soren's brother as battle heats up in Jharkhand  

BJP co-in-charge for Jharkhand Assembly elections Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday hit back at Chief Minister Hemant Soren's brother Basant Soren, who said Sarma comes to the state fuel fire in the society. Sarma, who has been attacking the ruling JMM government over infiltration, said: "I ignite fire against infiltrators."

"Lord Hanuman had also set fire in Lanka. We have to set fire against infiltrators and make Jharkhand a golden land," the Assam Chief Minister said. He stated that in the Santhal Pargana, the tribal population is decreasing and the Muslim population is increasing. "Not every Muslim is an infiltrator but how is the population of Muslims increasing every 5 years? Is a family giving birth to 10-12 children? If families are not giving birth to so many children, then definitely people are coming from outside. This is simple mathematics."

Sarma said the BJP will throw out infiltrators from Santhal Paragana.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi, and several other leaders filed their nomination papers today. Marandi filed his papers for Dhanwar assembly seat, which will go to polls in the second phase on November 20. The nomination process for the second phase started on October 22 and is set to conclude on Tuesday.

Marandi won the Dhanwar seat in the 2019 assembly polls as a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate by defeating BJP's Lakshman Prasad Singh by a margin of 17,550 votes. Later, he joined the BJP.

Elections to the 81-member assembly will take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, and votes will be counted on November 23.