Lok Sabha elections 2019: BJP seals alliance in Jharkhand with AJSU

The Bharatiya Janata Party has sealed an alliance with the All Jharkhand Student’s Union (AJSU) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The decision was taken on Friday night at a meeting of the central parliamentary board of the party which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two parties have agreed on a seat-sharing formula, under which, the BJP will contest 13 seats while the AJSU will put up its candidate in Giridih Lok Sabha constituency.

The party leadership discussed election management including choice of candidates in Jharkhand, Mangal Pandey, the BJP in-charge of Jharkhand and Bhupendra Yadav, the party’s in-charge of Bihar told the mediapersons about the alliance in presence of AJSU leader Sudesh Mahto in New Delhi.

Mahto met BJP president Amit Shah before the alliance was finalised. The AJSU leader, sources said, demanded two seats, Giridih and Hazaribagh for his party. But the BJP agreed to concede only Giridih Lok Sabha seat.

The two leaders also discussed the probable candidate for the seat. The names of Chandra Prakash Chowdhary and Lambodar Mahto cropped up during their talks, sources said. BJP’s Ravindra Pandey has retained this seat for five terms.

At the meeting of the central leadership, the BJP is understood to have fine-tuned its micro-strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi-led party body considered the matters related to fielding senior leaders aged over 75 and giving tickets to the members of the Rajya Sabha and state legislatures. This was the first big election-related meeting of the BJP which PM Modi attended.

The BJP leaders reviewed the emerging political situation in different states in the wake of alliances being cobbled up by the opposition parties. Sources said the BJP leadership is planning to change its candidates on many seats to deal with anti-incumbency. The leaders, who have crossed 75 years of age may be asked not to contest the general elections.

Sources said that the party leaders could not reach at a consensus over holding assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra along with the Lok Sabha polls.

The ruling party is looking to bring young and new faces to people. An internal survey of the BJP is said to be favouring wide-ranging changes in the candidature for the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP leadership discussed the political situation taking into account electoral losses in three Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The party believes that there has been a positive change in the political narrative following action taken by the government in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack.