KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, April 24: BJP candidate from Singhbhum parliamentary constituency Geeta Koda was on Sunday prevented from campaigning at a village in Gamharia in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
The unpalatable protest and opposition that Geeta Koda had to face during campaigning was from the residents of Mohanpur village which is considered to be a JMM stronghold area.
When the sitting MP arrived at the entrance of the village along with her saffron brigade, the villagers first hooted her by shouting slogans against her, later the protestors became belligerent, indulging themselves in physically pushing the saffron brigade away from the village.
As several protestors were carrying bows and arrows beside other traditional weapons, a police party who accompanied the BJP candidate intervened to prevent the situation turn out of control.
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The people of the tribal-dominated Mohanpur while shouting slogans against Geeta Koda, ranted that there is no place for the BJP as the village is dedicated to the JMM-Congress alliance candidate.
After making an abortive attempt to influence the villagers, Geeta Koda dropped the idea of campaigning in Mohanpur.
Significantly, some of the villagers claimed that they opposed the BJP candidate’s entry into the village as the latter had not taken the necessary permission from the Gram Sabha to carry out any campaign there.
Prominent among those who had accompanied Geeta Koda include Ganesh Mahali, Amit Singhdeo, Swapnil Singh, Rakesh Singh and Rashmi Sahu.
It may be mentioned here that Geeta Koda has got the ticket for contesting the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat after shifting her allegiance from Congress recently.
It is learned that ever since Geeta Koda launched the campaign, she is facing strong opposition from tribal-dominated villages, as if the villagers are bent upon teaching her a lesson for deserting the Congress.
