Yashwant Sinha

Ranchi, June 20: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha today led a daylong protest against erratic water and power supply in Jamtara, keeping up the momentum of the campaign he launched in Hazaribagh on June 2.

A day after coming out of Hazaribagh central jail on bail in a case related with a power stir, the BJP strongman sat on a dharna in Jamtara town and urged party workers to intensify the movement across the state.

“I have been told that the district has been reeling under an acute water crisis. The district headquarters receives power supply barely for 8-10 hours a day, leave alone the remote areas. The people here have been demanding installation of a 50MVA transformer for long but to no avail,” he said addressing the gathering at the dharna site.

Sinha further said similar conditions prevailed across the state and the common people were doomed to fend for themselves.

Under mounting pressure from the party high command, the former external affairs minister applied for bail on Wednesday in the case concerning the assault on a senior power board official during a stir in Hazaribagh on June 2.

Following the BJP leadership’s directive to come out of the jail and lead the party’s campaigns outside, Sinha chose to re-start his movement with the dharna in Jamtara today. “Around 800 people participated in the dharna today. Sinha’s presence infused a fresh leash of life among the party workers,” said BJP Jamtara district unit president Suresh Rai.