With a view to take the issue of special status for Jharkhand at the national forum, AJSU party has decided to contest all the 14 parliamentary seats in the State. Though the names of the candidates are yet to be finalised by the party’s parliamentary board, there are few names which are understood to have already been decided for various lok Sabha seats in the coming elections.
“We are all geared up for our mission-2014 to win majority of the seats in the coming lS polls, and year 2014 will witness a drastic change in the state’s politics” said AJSU chief Sudesh Mahto. Mahto claimed that AJSU is the only party which has a vision to develop the State. “Strengthening party at the grassroots level is on the priority list, though we are on the move to strengthen the organization down to the block and village level,” added Mahto.
“We are also looking to explore our electoral prospects in the adjoining states like Odisha and West Bengal too in the forthcoming lok Sabha elections, besides contesting all the 14 parliamentary seats in Jharkhand,” said the party vice president Praveen Prabhakar. According to Prabhakar, the district units of the party have already been directed to pull up their socks for the forthcoming elections. To boost up the morale of party workers, the party has put senior leaders in charge of various parliamentary constituencies. They include Kamal Kishore Bhagat for lohardaga, loknath Mahto for Hazaribagh, Nazrool Hassan Hashmi for Koderma and Tileshwar Sahu for Chatra.
“They could also be taken as probable candidates for the respective constituencies,” he said. The final decision however, will be taken in the meeting of parliamentary board which will sit before the elections. The party however, considering Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Jamshedpur and Ranchi to be its stronghold, is looking forward to bag at least five seats in the State.
The party is likely to contest Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and Midnapore lS seats in West Bengal and Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur and Sundargarh lS seat in Odisha. The names of the probable candidates will soon be announced by the party. Besides, general issues like corruption, unemployment, poverty and development in the State, the party will play the special status card, said AJSU spokesperson Deosharan Bhagat. “The party is likely to put the issue of special status before the finance commission, which is currently in Jharkhand, on January 10 during the meeting of political parties with the commission,” said Bhagat.