‘Our focus is on stability, devpt & not seat-sharing’

Starting with a single seat in the Jharkhand assembly in 2000, Ajsu Party strengthened its position in the state’s political amphitheatre by sending six legislators to the 81-member House in 2005 and went on to become crucial regional force to reckon with. Party chief Sudesh Mahto tells TOI’s Jaideep Deogharia that stability is the only concern in this election
Ajsu Party has emerged as a strong regional power, what makes you sign the lopsided pact with BJP?
We don’t consider the pact to be lopsided because our concern is not the number of seats we are contesting.Like most people in Jharkhand, we know the drawbacks of a fragmented mandate and unstable governments. In fact, under-development in the state has direct links with weak and unstable governments. We decided for the pre-poll alliance with BJP to ensure that a majority government is formed, and for that, compromising on a few seats is no big issue.
The alliance is lopsided not only for the number of seats Ajsu Party is contesting but also that it compromised on Hatia assembly constituency (Ajsu Party’s N Jaiswal won the seat in the 2009 bypolls) and agreed not to issue a manifesto.
Even if we have compromised on Hatia, BJP gave us Tamar seat that is represented by JD(U) MLA Raja Peter, who has joined BJP now. In an alliance, all partners have to weigh each other’s prospects and focus on winning options. As far as declaring a manifesto is concerned, Ajsu Party has released a vision document, parts of which have been incorporated in the ‘jan ghoshna patra’ released by BJP. Ajsu Party had been particular about special status to Jharkhand and will continue to rally for it.
What makes you believe that the alliance would help grab more seats?
BJP and Ajsu Party have common voters in some constituencies, especially in the urban pockets, and going by the voting pattern in the Lok Sabha election (2014), we are convinced that if we can contain split of votes, the alliance will bag more seats. The alliance in itself carries a message for the electorate that they should vote to form a majority government and prevent split on the basis of national or regional politics. Joint campaigning and common manifesto would further give a direction to the electorate.
The opposition claims that Sudesh Mahto’s scepticism about winning his own seat (Silli) in case the contest was against BJP has prompted him to align with the national party. What is your take?
Others have every right to speculate and analyze but this is not the last time Ajsu Party is contesting election. No party president would bury the prospects of the entire party for one seat. The decision (to align with BJP) is made by the party and not just the president. We are focusing on stability so that the party that emerged from the movement for separate statehood can lead the initiative of reconstruction of the state through good governance, which is impossible unless the government is free from blackmailing of small entities.