Newly elected BJP MlA Nagendra Mahto, who has made an entry of the ‘Giant Killers’ arena after defeating CPI (Ml) stalwart from Bagodar Binod Singh, is full of energy and enthusiasm as a new legislator of the State. Mahto, who won the seat occupied by Singh since 2005, claims that he will try to achieve things in the next five years that could not be done in the last 25 years.
Mahto’s prime concern is to start the Konar irrigation project, which has marooned thousands of acres of land of the poor farmers of the region languishing since 1978. Bagodar has been a traditional seat of CPI (Ml) since the last 25 years. “I want Konar project to be started soon. This has not been fulfilled even after 36 years of farmers losing their land,” said Mahto. Even though more than Rs 250 crore has already been spent for the project, the whole project has been languishing since 1978, he added.
Mahto has been contenting from the seat since the last 20 years and managed to secure 74,898 votes during this election, winning by a margin of 4,339 votes. Singh won the assembly elections of 2005 and 2009 by defeating Mahto. Earlier, Bagodar was represented by Singh’s father late Mahendra Singh, who got elected in 1990, 1995 and 2000. Singh was fielded by the party in 2005 polls after the suspected CPI (Maoists) killed Mahendra Singh while addressing an election rally in the constituency.
Mahto further added that his constituency lags behind others in all respect where no developmental work took place in the last 25 years. He alleged that ex-MlA Binod Singh secured to vote by laying foundation stones of the schemes of central and state governments, without taking any initiative of his own for the development of the region. Referring to Singh’s image of a humble politician, Mahto said, “He has two faces in the public, one for those sitting in the capital and the other for the people of his constituency. Once you visit to the constituency, you will get to know about the ground reality. Not a single development work has been carried out by him in the last 10 years,” he added.
Mahto further said that since people of his constituency have elected him for the next five years, he will work hard and try to ensure water, electricity and other civic amenities for them in minimum possible time. When asked about the factors which lead him to win the seat after so many years of struggle, Mahto said, “I remained connected with the people continuously for the last 20 years, while Singh was busy collecting levy from the businessmen and contractors and was given suitable reply by the people itself,” Mahto said. I have been fighting for the rights of my people continuously for the last 20 years, and was the only factor behind my victory, added Mahto.