NDA defeat in Lohardaga bypoll reflects Raghubar Das govt's performance: JMM

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Monday claimed the defeat of NDA candidate in the December 14 Lohardaga (ST) Assembly bypoll reflected the "performance" of the one-year rule of the Raghubar Das government.

"The people have given their mandate in the bypoll. And it will also reflect in the state in the future," JMM working president and former chief minister Hemant Soren told a press conference here.

Soren said a couple of achievements that the state government claimed as its own, had been initiated by his erstwhile JMM-led UPA government. "Why did the government leave one ministerial berth vacant? How can the government meet the people's expectations when it can't complete the full members of the cabinet?" Soren said in a press release here.

Earlier during his press conference in the day, Chief Minister Raghubar Das said it was not an issue when a reporter asked him to comment on the vacant ministerial berth.