Days before polls, Ajsu-P silent on manifesto

Ranchi: BJP ally Ajsu-P, which has fielded state water resource minister C P Choudhary as its candidate from Giridih, is yet to release its manifesto with just a couple of days left before the lone constituency from where it is contesting goes to the polls. As part of a pre-poll seat-sharing agreement, BJP gave the Giridih seat to the Sudesh Mahto-led party, denying the ticket to its incumbent MP Ravindra Kumar Pandey.
But contrary to its earlier announcement of launching its own manifesto before the polls, Ajsu-P is yet to do so. A three-member team comprising U C Mehta, Raj Kishore Mahto and J N Singh was formed on March 25 to prepare a draft manifesto. One of the team members said that they submitted the same around three weeks ago to party chief Sudesh Mahto but wasn’t aware about its fate.
“We have submitted the draft manifesto to party high command long-time back. A meeting was to take place, but I am not aware if it happened or not as I got busy with campaigning in Giridih,” Mehta said.
Mehta said the document is focussed on Giridih constituency and touches upon issues like displacement and environmental pollution, among others.
Ajsu-P’s central spokesperson Deo Sharan Bhagat said: “I am not aware about anything related to manifesto.”
In neighbouring Bihar, BJP reportedly forced Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) to stall its manifesto release owing to a few bone of contentions. Some Ajsu-P supporters suspect that the same might have happened in Jharkhand as well.
Sudesh didn’t receive calls. One of Sudesh’s close aides, however, said, “Yes, there was a plan to launch our manifesto, but probably senior party members are now of the view that since we are part of NDA, a separate manifesto may lead to confusion.”