BJP Snaps Ties With AJSU, To Contest Jharkhand Assembly Elections Alone

Ahead of upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has decided to break alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ruling BJP in the state will now contest on all the 80 Assembly seats. This is the first time when both the parties will contest elections in the state separately. The two parties have taken this decision after they failed to reach on a consensus over seat distribution.

Earlier on Wednesday, the BJP fielded Sukhdeo Bhagat from the Lohardagga Assembly seat. Bhagat, former Congress president of Jharkhand, joined the BJP just before the announcement of the poll dates.

The AJSU had already fielded Niru Bhagat from the seat, who filed his nomination on November 11 in the presence of the party president. According to sources, the BJP had offered 10 seats to the AJSU but the proposal was not accepted by party president Sudesh Mahto.

Earlier, former Jharkhand PCC president Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu on Thursday joined the AJSU party, saying he had been sidelined in the Congress for the last few years.

The three-time MLA from Ghatsila was welcomed by AJSU party president and former deputy chief minister Sudesh Kumar Mahto at the partys Milan Samaroh. Some of Balmuchu's supporters also joined the AJSU party.

When asked about the reasons to quit the Congress, Balmuchu said, "There are many reasons, but in the last two years I found that there was no place for me in the party.

Balmuchu had represented the Congress in the Rajya Sabha and held the post of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee chief for several years.

"I talked to my supporters, who suggested that I join the AJSU party and I did so," he added. Balmuchu has become the third political leader in the state to have joined the AJSU party from other parties.

Former BJP chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore joined the AJSU party on Tuesday while former JMM MLA Akeel Akhtar was inducted into the AJSU party on Wednesday.

Jharkhand is going for elections in five phases between November 30 and December 20 and counting will take place on December 23.

With PTI Inputs