Congress fields Gourav Vallabh against Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur East
New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday fielded its national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh to take on Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das in the upcoming assembly elections.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi approved Vallabh's candidature from the Jamshedpur East assembly constituency, while fielding Mamta Devi from the Ramgarh seat, a party statement said.
With this, the total number of candidates declared so far by the Congress for the Jharkhand elections is 27.
"I am ready for the challenge to take on the chief minister. The people of Jharkhand have been duped and I will emerge victorious in this electoral contest," said Vallabh, who recently went viral on internet after a showdown with BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra at a TV debate.
Jharkhand will vote in five phases, with the first on November 30 and the last on December 20. Results will be declared on December 23.
The Jarkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal had recently announced a pre-poll tie-up for the state with former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren as the alliance's CM face.
The Congress will contest 31 seats out of 81 seats in the Jharkhand assembly.
The RJD will contest on seven seats, while the largest chunk of the alliance share has gone to the JMM, which will contest elections on 43 seats.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
RCB beat MI by 18 runs after batters fire
Mumbai (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli blasted half-centuries as the defending champions beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
Salt (78 off 36 balls) and Kohli (50 off 38 balls) stitched together a 120-run stand for the opening wicket before Patidar scored a rapid 53 off just 20 balls as RCB posted 240 for 4.
In response, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 222 for 5, with RCB spinner Suyash Sharma (2/47) putting the skids on the home side with a double strike in the eighth over, from which they could not recover.
Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for MI with an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls.
While opener Rohit Sharma appeared to be struggling with a hamstring issue and had to retire hurt on 19, his partner Ryan Rickelton made 37, while Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Hardik Pandya (40) were the other contributors for MI.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 35 not out).
Mumbai Indians: 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 71 not out, Ryan Rickelton 37, Hardik Pandya 40; Suyash Sharma 2/47).
