AJSU Party chief to attend NDA meeting, says alliance got mandate to form govt

Ranchi: AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto on Wednesday said that the NDA, which is comfortably above the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, has got the mandate to form the government at the Centre.

Mahto left for Delhi to take part in the NDA meeting scheduled in the national capital later in the day.

He got a call from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to attend the meeting, a party spokesperson said.

The AJSU Party, an NDA partner in Jharkhand, bagged the Giridih constituency it was allotted in the seat-sharing agreement with the BJP.

Its nominee Chandraprakash Choudhary defeated JMM's Mathura Mahato by 80,880 votes.

"The NDA has got a clear mandate to form the government at the Centre... AJSU Party has been a BJP ally for long," Mahto said.

He said NDA will deliberate on all aspects of the poll results, including its performance, and dip in the number of seats in some states, besides regional politics.

Mahto said both Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) president Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu are known for leadership that fuels development and are old allies of the BJP.

Both Kumar and Naidu, who is set to become the next Andhra Pradesh chief minister, are scheduled to attend the NDA meeting in Delhi where top leaders of the BJP and its allies are expected to be present.

Kumar's party that won 12 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and TDP, which bagged 16 seats in the southern state, are likely to play a crucial role in the government formation as the BJP has failed to secure majority in the Lok Sabha on its own.

On the BJP losing all the five tribal-dominated seats in Jharkhand, Mahto said the issue needs serious deliberation, alleging, "Development has bypassed the tribal community under a planned strategy so that it could be used by certain parties for political gains." "These parties do appeasement politics and the community (tribals) has been deprived of development and leadership etc... there have been challenges... we need to address these and will certainly discuss regional politics as well," he said.

There are several issues of the state on which decisions are needed in view of the upcoming assembly elections to the 81-member House scheduled later this year, he said.