Jharkhand election: AJSU chief Sudesh Mahato indicates openness to post-poll alliance with any party

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The AJSU Party, an erstwhile ally of the BJP in Jharkhand, indicated on Sunday that it is open to post-poll alliance with any party that fulfils its agenda of better and inclusive governance. For the AJSU Party, its mission of "abki baar, gaon ki sarkar" to make villages an intrinsic part of the governance delivery system is supreme, its chief Sudesh Mahato said. Hitting out at the BJP and the Congress, he alleged that both the national parties were "same" and ignored the state.

"I don't want to make government of any party or individual. I want the government of the people of Jharkhand which works for overall development of the people.... For me, the Congress and the BJP are same," Mahato said when asked about whom his party would support if the polls throw up a fractured mandate.

"For us, our agenda of "abki baar, gaon ki sarkar" is most important. It focuses on governance, delivery system and making villages an intrinsic part of it. We want to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of swaraj," Mahato told PTI over phone.

Training his guns on his erstwhile ally BJP, Mahato alleges the party wants to win election without giving importance to local issues. "Where is the BJP's slogan of 'Ab ki baar 65 paar' (to win over 65 of the 81 seats)? The party has stopped raising it and is talking about Ram temple. It can't win elections by ignoring local issues,” he said.

The prime minister had assured that there would not be any politics over the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya issue, but he was now raising the temple issue during campaign in the state, Mahato alleged.

Asked is the amended Citizenship Act will have any effect on the elections, Mahato said these "diverting tactics" won't work now. This is assembly elections and local issues matter more to the people, he said. The AJSU Party fought the 2014 assembly elections in alliance with the BJP and won five out of the eight seats it had contested.

It was also part of the Raghubar Das-led government for five years in the state. This time the party is going it alone and contesting on 53 seats in the 81-member assembly. Three phases of the five-phase Jharkhand assembly elections have completed and only two phases are remaining on December 16 and December 20.

The results will be announced on December 23. The ruling BJP is in direct contest with JMM-Cong-RJD alliance in the state and AJSU is emerging as third pole of the elections.

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