Hazaribagh, Jan. 19: A last-minute agreement between two BJP legislators cleared the deck for Sushila Devi, who won the election for Hazaribagh zilla parishad chairperson today.

Wife of Ramlakhan Sao - known to be a shooter of slain gangster Sushil Srivastava, who was gunned down in Hazaribagh court in last June - Sushila defeated Priyanka Kumari, who was backed by Ajsu Party, in a close fight.

Felicitated by Unicef brand ambassador Sharmila Tagore in Delhi and also by former chief minister Arjun Munda for her extraordinary work as Katkamdag mukhiya, Priyanka was confident of her victory till this morning, but BJP MLAs Manish Jaiswal from Hazaribagh Sadar and Janki Prasad Yadav from Barkatha managed to "tweak" the outcome through hours-long negotiation last night and help Sushila bag 17 of the 32 votes today.

Janki Prasad, who dumped the JVM and joined the BJP camp along with five other MLAs last February but failed to get a ministerial berth, initially wanted the party to give him his due "reward" by supporting his wife Chandan Devi for the chairperson's post which was reserved for an OBC woman.

However, as per the tacit understanding between Jaiswal and Janki Prasad, Chandan pulled out this morning and instead contested the poll for the vice-chairperson's post. She won 26 votes against rival Tukeshwar Prasad.

Sushila failed to hide her happiness when asked about her priorities as the new zilla parishad chief. "My focus will be on education, irrigation and health. I will seek cooperation of all for the welfare of the district," she said.

Chandan and husband Janki Prasad said they would together do whatever needed for the progress of Hazaribagh. "I have become an MLA for the first time but she has been elected as a zilla parishad member for the second term. She knows well how to work," he said, garlanding her on her victory.

" Ye vikas ki mala hai, jai mala nahi. Ab kam karke dikhana hai," Chandan said.

A Shocked Priyanka told The Telegraph that she had the support of 18 members till this morning. "I lost due to betrayal by some members. Money power won," she said, claiming she was the most eligible candidate for the much-coveted post - her education (she is a graduate) and performance as a mukhiya were the proof.

In comparison, Sushila is just a matriculate while Chandan can only write her name.