Dhanbad: A political controversy has erupted in the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation election over the alleged misuse of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph on social media by JMM-supported mayoral candidate Chandrashekar Agarwal. BJP has accused Agarwal of deliberately trying to mislead the voters by projecting himself as being associated with the saffron party.Responding to the allegations, Agarwal said that Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister of the country and does not belong to any single party. He claimed that the photograph had been on his profile for several years and alleged that BJP leaders, lacking vision and work, were resorting to baseless statements. Notably, Agrawal, a former mayor and BJP leader, joined JMM on February 2, after the saffron party announced its support for another candidate, Sanjeev Kumar.However, BJP district media in-charge Pankaj Sinha opposed Agarwal’s view and said that till now, the latter displayed the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his Facebook profile, thereby creating an impression of being linked with BJP. Sinha termed the act a violation of political propriety and alleged that it was a “well-planned conspiracy” to confuse the voters in Dhanbad ahead of the civic polls.BJP further criticised Agarwal, saying that he was intentionally misusing the PM’s name and image to gain political mileage from the historic development works carried out under Modi’s leadership. The party said this was an attempt to mislead innocent voters and derive undue electoral advantage. Sinha also described the act as condemnable, misleading and against democratic values.Sinha alleged that Agarwal continues to portray himself as associated with BJP. “This will not be tolerated under any circumstances,” he said, adding that BJP strongly opposes such deceptive political practices. He stated that the party would consult its legal experts and approach the Election Commission, demanding strict action against the “JMM candidate”.
