'People defeated BJP's attempts to divide society'

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance's victory in the Jharkhand Assembly polls was of "extreme contemporary importance" and asserted that the people have defeated the BJP's attempts to divide the society on caste and religious lines.

Gandhi thanked the people of Jharkhand for expressing their "substantive faith" in the people centric Congress-JMM-RJD alliance led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren.

Gandhi congratulated Soren, all alliance partners and the Congress party leaders and workers for the victory, the party said in a statement.

The victory is special and of extreme contemporary importance, and the people of Jharkhand deserve special gratitude and congratulations for summarily defeating the BJP and its divisive agenda, she said.

With this mandate, the people have defeated the BJP's attempts to divide the society on caste and religious lines, the Congress president asserted.

The JMM-led alliance attained a majority in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly on Monday, Election Commission website said.