Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh, who made headlines with his '5 trillion dollar' question to BJP's Sambit Patra, will be one of the candidates testing his fate in 2019 Jharkhand Assembly polls. He is the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance candidate from Jamshedpur East constituency against BJP's incumbent chief minister Raghubar Das.
The Quint caught up with the professor-turned-politician during his election campaign and spoke to him about his strategy.
“There are 12 zeroes in a trillion. I am not going to give 12 zeroes to one person. There are two candidates from the BJP against me and I am going to give 6 zeroes to one and 6 zeroes to the other one.”Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson
Rebel BJP leader Saryu Rai recently resigned from Assembly membership and announced that he will fight the polls independently from the same constituency.
Contesting Against the CM
Raghubar Das was sworn in as the 6th chief minister of Jharkhand after the BJP-AJSU alliance came to power in 2014 and has served as the member of legislative Assembly for five times representing Jamshedpur East since 1995.
“You will find out about the undercurrent against that person (Raghubar Das). He has lied and deceived the constituents for the last 25 years. You will be surprised to know that when people remind him of his promises, he asks them to go away.”Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson
He says there is a difference between debating on TV and fighting for elections.
“If you don’t practice what you preach on TV channels, people find it hard to believe you. Whatever I am promising is not mere talk. I am prepared and I can tell how I am going to go about it. It is very easy to promise 50 lakh jobs every year in Jamshedpur east and I can promise 50 crore too but it is important to show the plan of how I intend to deliver on the promise.”Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson
Vallabh’s Poll Promises
Gourav wishes to focus on better schools and hospitals. He also plans to focus on reviving the industries in Jamshedpur that have been shut down.
“Here, if we go to a public hospital to get treated for cold and cough, you will end up getting dengue, malaria on top of it. This is the condition.”Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson
Assembly polls for over 81 seats are being held in five phases in Jharkhand. Second phase of voting is to be held on 7 December. It will include 20 constituencies like Khunti and Simdega along with Jamshedpur East and West. The results of the Assembly poll will be declared on 23 December.
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