Jharkhand: AJSU party will fight elections in alliance with BJP, says Mahto

Ranchi: Batting strongly for a political leadership in Jharkhand that is not hungry for power but for development, AJSU Party chief Sudesh Kumar Mahto said his party will fight the elections in alliance with the BJP.

Mahto who has been a key player in the state's turbulent politics said 'evident change' will be visible in the 2024 elections and his party will ensure penetration to village choupal level for 'public participation' in decisive policies.

"Alliance with BJP will be there" but the main focus will be preparing leadership at different levels which is lacking in the state despite over 20 years of its formation and in long-term demand would be to increase assembly seats to 160 from 81 and legislative council on the pattern of Rajya Sabha as not all can contest elections, Mahto told PTI in an exclusive interview.

"The basic drawback in Jharkhand is lack of leadership. My vision is to inculcate a leadership that is hungry for development and not for power...Whatever changes and development that comes anywhere is based on its leaders and whether leadership has quality. Ever since the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000 there have mainly been fractured mandates and short-lived governments.

"Only the last BJP government completed five years...sustainable development is possible with good leadership and we are now engaging even choupal people at village level to think for the state...changes will be evident in next elections," Mahto who played the role of kingmaker in Jharkhand earlier and was Deputy Chief Minister in Shibu Soren and Arjun Munda governments said.

No chief minister barring Raghubar Das who won in 2014 completed a full five-year term in the state and fractured verdicts earlier ensured a kingmaker role to Mahto as the the AJSU Party had fought the 2005 and 2009 assembly elections on its own and managed five seats to ensure that BJP could not come to power without Mahto. He was rewarded with key portfolios and even the Deputy Chief Minister post.

"We will fight elections in alliance with BJP but we have already started the exercise for decentralization of leadership. Sharing seats is not that important for us as preparing leadership even at the village level. Massive exercise is on in 32,000 villages as we don't want monologue and focus is participation from village level people," Mahto a legislator from Silli who had regained the turf in 2019 after losing it in 2014 post retaining the seat for 15 years said.

He said: "Pillar members are being created through public dialogue and the party is constituting a central committee which will have 720 members including one male and one female from block level besides 100 special invitees from all walks of life...A chula pramukh will be there who is basically a representative of 10 families," Mahto said.

The Central committee will have 50 per cent members who are youth below 40 years of age and 30 per cent will be women. ST, SC, OBC and general representation will also be there based on their population, he said.

"The results will be clear and reflected in ensuing elections whether assembly or parliamentary as we will do subject-based politics...We have to bring new faces as the biggest draw in the leadership is that theme-based leadership is lacking here," he said.

Mahto underlined that peoples' participation was a must in attacking JMM for alleged false promises of jobs, etc that is not practical and said his focus will be on a long-term policy encompassing all sectors whether - social, political, educational or economic.

Mahto had snapped ties with then ruling BJP in 2019 ahead of the Jharkhand state polls and contested the state assembly elections alone for the first time sans long-standing ally the AJSU Party, the BJP bagged 25 seats, five less than the JMM.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling UPA has 47 MLAs -- JMM 29, Congress 17 and RJD 1. The BJP has 26 members and AJSU Party three. The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents.

In March this year, AJSU Party candidate Sunita Choudhary won the by-poll to Jharkhand's Ramgarh seat, defeating UPA-backed Congress' Bajrang Mahto.