Jharkhand Assembly election 2019: Setback to BJP, party’s chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore joins AJSU

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered another setback in Jharkhand just ahead of the Assembly polls when its chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore quit the party and joined the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) Party. Kishore was said to be unhappy with the BJP leadership over denial of a ticket to contest polls from Chhatarpur (SC) seat.

Kishore joined the AJSU during a ‘Milan Samaroh’ of the party in Ranchi on Tuesday. “Radhakrishna Kishore joined AJSU Party,” AJSU Party president and former deputy CM Sudesh Kumar Mahto said.

Kishore was elected from Chhatarpur on a BJP ticket in the 2014 polls. However, the BJP has fielded Pushpa Devi from the seat for the upcoming election.

A five-time MLA, Kishore was a member of the Congress and the Janata Dal (United) before he joined the BJP. Kishore also had a brief stint as a minister in one of the Arjun Munda governments.

The development comes at a time when the BJP is facing pressure from its ruling partner AJSU on the seat-sharing formula. The AJSU has been an ally of the BJP since the creation of the state 19 years ago. The party is demanding 17 seats from the BJP to contest the elections.

When Sudesh Kumar was asked whether Kishore will be given party ticket from Chhatarpur assembly constituency, he replied, “Our Parliamentary Board will make a decision over it.”

While the BJP has announced 52 candidates, the AJSU has so far declared 12 candidates. The Jharkhand Legislative Assembly has 81 seats.

To a question how many seats the AJSU is demanding, Sudesh said, “We have placed 17 seats (before the BJP) and let discussion happen on them.”

Incidentally, both the BJP and the AJSU have announced to field their respective candidates from Chakradharpur, Sindri and Simaria seats. The BJP has nominated its state unit president Laxman Gilua from Chakradharpur. He will face AJSU’s Ramlal Munda.

On Tuesday itself, another BJP leader Baidyanath Ram joined the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and got the ticket to contest from Latehar (SC) assembly seat. Ram was a two-time minister BJP-led NDA government in the state. He was denied ticket to contest the assembly polls by the BJP and therefore he quit the party and joined the JMM. The saffron party has fielded Prakash Ram from Latehar (SC) seat.

Meanwhile, the BJP has lashed out at Kishore and Baidyanath Ram saying it is unfortunate that the leaders only want to become MLAs or MPs.

The state of Jharkhand will go to polls in five-phase between November 30 and December 20. This would be the fourth assembly elections since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000. Results will be declared on December 23.