JD(U)’s RS pick over RCP, ex-Mandu MLA Khiru Mahto ‘overwhelmed’ by Nitish script

Mahto, who was made the Jharkhand party unit president less than a year ago, had won the Assembly election from Mandu seat in 2005. Evidently, he had himself never expected a Rajya Sabha berth, that too at the expense of a high-profile leader like RCP. Thanking Nitish and current party national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh or Lalan Singh, Mahto said candidly, “I am overwhelmed with this honour. I had never dreamt about it.”

Mahto, who hails from Hazaribagh, studied till Class 10 and had been a farmer. He started his political career in 1978 when he won the ward member poll from Kedla panchayat. He also served as the mukhiya of the panchayat for sometime. He later started working as an aide of local CPM leader Ramanika Gupta. Subsequently, he joined the Lok Dal in mid-1980s.

Like Anil Hegde, Mahto was also deeply influenced by Samata Party founder George Fernandes. He used to accompany late Fernandes everywhere during his visits to the Jharkhand region.

In October 2003, the Samata Party merged with the JD(U) and Mahto has been with the JD(U) since then. Even as the JD(U) did not have much political stake in Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar as a separate state in 2000, Mahto tried his luck from the Mandu Assembly segment of Hazaribagh in the 2005 election and won the seat. His victory was mainly attributed to JMM heavyweight Teklal Mahto’s decision to contest from the Giridih Lok Sabha seat and get his son Ramprakash Bhai Mahto fielded from Mandu.

Khiru Mahto, however, could not win Mandu seat in subsequent polls. His son Dushyant Patel contested unsuccessfully from the constituency in the 2019 election, too.

Mahto has stuck to the JD(U) and remained active in the organisation even though the Teklal family continues to dominate Mandu politics. He has also been a member of the JD(U)’s national executive for a long time.

When Lalan Singh took over as the JD(U) national president in July 2021, he chose to appoint Mahto as the Jharkhand party unit chief. While announcing Mahto’s name as the JD(U) candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls from Bihar on Sunday, Lalan said the party wanted to expand in Jharkhand.

Mahto belongs to Kurmi (OBC) community that accounts for 22 per cent population of Jharkhand — the highest among any individual caste group in the tribal state. The JD(U), which has been seeking its expansion beyond Bihar, has started focusing on Jharkhand now. Of the state’s total 81 Assembly seats, there are about 12-15 constituencies, where the Mahto/Patel (Kurmi) community plays a key role in determining the outcome of the elections. This also might have gone into Nitish’s calculations when he zeroed in on Mahto’s Rajya Sabha candidature while delivering a snub to RCP whose membership of the Upper House in going to expire in about a month.