Sudesh Mahto Standing tall

Ranchi, Dec. 31: He is no stereotypical politician. At 35, he is today one of two deputy chief ministers not afraid to walk the talk. So what if his favourite attire is jeans and a trade mark cap, you need to take Sudesh Mahto seriously.

Well, chief minister Shibu Soren does. After all, Mahto with five Ajsu MLAs turned out to be the real kingmaker, giving JMM the momentum to garner numbers and form a government.

Mahto claims he was guided by “rajdharma” when he decided to back the JMM-BJP combine in the wake of the fractured mandate.

“Both the JMM and Ajsu have fought the battle for a separate state. Now we have to work towards fulfilling a common agenda — that of the betterment of the state,” he said, maintaining that this time, voters gave the mandate to regional parties as against known national parties. “This prompted the All Jharkhand Students’ Union to join hands with JMM to form a new government,” explained Mahto.

Soren has already held a Cabinet meeting where a lot of Mahto’s ideas had been stressed upon. The youth of the state would be happy to note that job creation is a priority.

“We will support industrialisation as it would bring jobs for the state’s youth. Our focus will be more on the energy sector,” said Mahto, who commands quite a following among the young people of the state.

Not afraid to speak his mind, Mahto is well aware that Jharkhand is more infamous than anything else, topping the notoriety charts courtesy a few Independent politicians.

“So, the new government has taken it up as a challenge to ensure that the state’s image changes through development and corruption-free governance,” he pointed out.

“Jharkhand is being laughed at everywhere primarily because of some politicians. I personally think these things shouldn’t be repeated. First, we need to heal those wounds and at the same time utilise the state’s resources in a better manner.”

Ajsu emerged victorious in the Silli, Ramgarh, Jugsalai, Lohardaga and Chandankiyari Assembly constituencies and was runners up in three other seats, thereby increasing its 2005 tally by two to five.

“Our political aspirations will continue. Ajsu will try to make the youth aware of their rights, besides ensuring that the populace comes to a common platform for their cause.”

Mahto said a common minimum programme would ensure effective implementation of several people-oriented schemes by the JMM-BJP-Ajsu alliance. “And with no Independents (to rock the boat) this time, I see no challenge to the Soren government for the next five years. We will have to respect each other while keeping people’s welfare as our primary goal.”