Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], June 8 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pratul Shahdeo on Monday emphasised that their aim is a 'Congress-free India', asserting that the BJP will win and Congress will lose in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand, scheduled for June 18.

Speaking to ANI, Shahdeo said, 'We have completed all the necessary procedures, and rest assured, our focus is on a Congress-free India... we aim to oust the 'outsider' candidate, someone with no connection to Jharkhand, whom the Congress has fielded here. The BJP will make a move that leaves everyone astonished... one thing is certain, we will win, and the Congress will lose.'

JMM has announced MLA Baidyanath Ram, while Congress is set to field party secretary Pranav Jha for the Upper House polls on two seats in Jharkhand. Initially, the JMM wanted to field its candidates in both seats; however, the party leadership decided to leave one for its ally, Congress.

After this, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Manoj Pandey on Monday said that Chief Minister Hemant Soren upheld the spirit of coalition as the party reached a seat-sharing agreement with Congress, deciding to field a candidate each for the Rajya Sabha election

Meanwhile, Pratul Shahdeo also criticised Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Delhi for the INDIA bloc meeting, calling the alliance 'defeated and battered, with Banerjee as a leader without a party.'

Shahdeo said, 'This alliance consists of defeated, battered, and disheartened people. When the INDIA bloc was formed, Banerjee and MK Stalin were CMs, and the alliance had CMs in several states, making it stronger. But now, Banerjee is a leader without a party.'

He further stated, 'If you set aside the 99 Congress MPs, there are perhaps only 25 or 30 MPs left. Mamata Banerjee had distanced herself from the INDIA bloc and was talking about contesting elections everywhere on her own strength. And now, after defeat, she has emerged as a key player...' (ANI)