Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday exude 100 percent confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form its government in the current elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. While talking about what the BJP government has done and it is doing for the development of Rajasthan, Nitin Gadkari said, “I have toured Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and I am very confident that the BJP will form the Government again in all three states with majority.”
In Mizoram, Congress will fight tooth and nail to save its last bastion in the North-East from falling. In the Christian dominated state, BJP’s pro-Hindutva image has done it any service and any party that is seen canoodling with the saffron party. Incumbent Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla’s tenure ends on December 15. Congress, the Mizo National Front (MNF), the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the main political parties in the battle for Mizoram.
Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram Assembly Elections – LIVE updates
11:50 am: Voter turnout in Mizoram is at 29 percent till 11 am, as per ANI. In 2013 State Assembly Elections, the north-eastern state saw 89 percent voter turnout. Meanwhile in MP, 13.63% voter turnout was recorded till 11.15 am.
11:10 am: Special arrangements have been made to facilitate voting by members of the Bru community. Food and transport facilities are also being provided to those coming to cast votes. Violence between Mizo and Bru tribes broke out in 1997, following which many Bru families were forced to flee their home state and take shelter in the neighbouring Tripura.
10:44 am: After a person was arrested after BJP polling agents were found carrying campaign material within 200 meters of a polling booth in MP, another case of violation of section 126 of the Representation of People Act, 1951. The Election Commision is expected to look into the matter.
10: 30 am: After initial reports of multiple Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) not working, over 100 EVMs have been replaced, chief electoral officer V Kantha Rao was quoted by reports as saying.
10:19 am: Earlier, Kamal Nath after casting his vote in Chhindwara said, “I have full faith in the people of Madhya Pradesh, they are simple and innocent people who have been robbed for a long time by BJP”.
In true democratic spirit, a 101-year-old woman was spotted outside the polling booth in Agar Malwa in MP after exercising her franchise:
10:02 am: In violation of election code of conduct, a person was apprehended after BJP’s polling agents were caught with campaign material within 200 meters of a polling booth in MP.
9:50 am: Mizoram has witnessed 15 percent voting till 9 am, as per ANI. The voting in the North-eastern state started at 7 am and will continue till 4 pm. Mizoram’s borders with neighbouring Tripura, Assam and Manipur as well as international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh have been sealed since Sunday for elections.
9:37 am: After claiming yesterday that there is pro-incumbency and not anti-incumbency in the state, CM Shivraj Chouhan after casting his vote in Budhni on Wednesday said he is confident that BJP will form the government with absolute majority. “We’re 100% certain that BJP will form the government with an absolute majority. We have set a target of 200 seats and our lakhs of volunteers are working to make it a reality,” he told ANI.
9:22 am: There have been reports of EVMs not working in some of the booths in MP. Two faulty EVMs in Ujjain have been replaced, 11 VVPAT machines in Alirajpur, 5 VVPAT and 2 EVMs in Burhanpur also replaced. It was earlier reported that EVM at polling booth number 178 in Dabra, Gwalior district is not working.
9:03 am: In MP, a total of 5,04,95,251 voters will cast their votes to decide the fate of 2,907 candidates. Voting in three Maoist-affected seats Lanji, Paraswada and Baihar began at 7 am and will continue till 3 pm while the polling in the remaining 227 seats began at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm.
8:48 am: Congress leader Kamal Nath cast his vote in Chhindwara while MP minister and BJP leader Yashodhara Raje Scindia cast her vote at a polling station in Shivpuri. She is up against Congress’ Siddharth Lada.
8:34 am: Mizoram has 7,70,395 registered electors who will vote in 1,164 polling booths across the state. Nearly 209 candidates are in the fray. Here are some visuals of voters as they exercise their franchise:
8:22 am: Both BJP and Congress leaders made temple runs as polling began in MP. MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered prayers on banks of Narmada river in Budhni with his wife Sadhna Singh. Meanwhile, Congress leader Kamal Nath made his obeisance at Hanuman temple in Chhindwara.
8:13 am: Polling in Maoist-affected constituencies began early in Madhya Pradesh while voting in the rest of the state started at 8 am. The most-watched seat today is CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Budhni. He is pitted against Congress’ Arun Yadav there.
8:03 am: In Mizoram, all booths will be connected wirelessly leaving no “shadow areas”. The state has a hilly terrain which makes access to certain locations difficult. Mizoram Deputy Inspector General of Police earlier Joseph Lalchhuana earlier told PTI the move will help in timely reporting of the progress in polls.
7:45 am: On the eve of MP polls, Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is the longest-serving chief minister of the state told PTI that pro-incumbency and not anti-incumbency is at play in the state. “What is at work here is pro-incumbency and not anti-incumbency,” said the 59-year-old BJP leader, whose party has been in power in the state since 2003,” he told PTI.
7:30 am: Voting in MP will begin at 8 am. About 500 ‘pink’ polling booths all across MP which will completely be managed by all-woman staff. From presiding officers till security guards, these booths will have all women staff.
64.8 per cent polling till 5 pm in second phase of elections in Chhattisgarh says Election Commission. Though polling officially closes at 5, those still in line and have been given slips will vote. Also, bear in mind that data released till 5 pm will have been tabulated a little earlier than that officials say.
In 2013, the total voting percentage was 77.12 per cent. Poll officials estimate final numbers to be around that, or a little higher perhaps.
Voter turnout recorded at 58.47% till 4 pm
At 4 pm, the voter turnout in the second phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections stood at 58.47%.
Chhattisgarh records 45% voter turnout till 2pm
Chhattisgarh records 45% voter turnout till 2 pm in the second phase of Assembly elections taking place on Tuesday.
Voter turnout at 25.2% till 12pm
At 12 pm, the voter turnout stood at 25.2% as polling for the second phase takes place Tuesday.
Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2018 LIVE: With as many as 1,079 candidates in the fray, over 1.54 crore voters, including 77.53 lakh male, 76.46 lakh female and 877 transgender, will cast their votes today.
The second and final phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections began Tuesday for 72 of the 90 seats in the state amid tight security arrangements. With as many as 1,079 candidates in the fray, over 1.54 crore voters, including 77.53 lakh male, 76.46 lakh female and 877 transgender, will cast their votes today. While polling began at 7 am in two of the 19,336 booths, the rest are following the usual time of 8 am to 5 pm. To ensure peaceful polling, over one lakh security personnel have been deployed and extra vigil is being maintained in Naxal-affected districts of Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund, Kabirdham, Jashpur and Balrampur.
The ruling BJP holds 43 of the 72 seats, with the party sweeping several areas in the Chhattisgarh plains in the 2013 elections. The Congress is confident of consolidating its position and overturning deficits in the plains with farmer anger against the BJP.
There is a third element for the first time in a bipolar state, after Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh and the Communist Party of India (CPI) joined hands to contest the polls.
Many areas of Chhattisgarh will vote for the first time in 20 years
Crossing rivers barefoot, wading through jungles just sanitised by the accompanying security personnel and even airdropped by choppers into the Naxal-affected interiors, many on poll duty in Chhattisgarh feel like the real-life version of the protagonist from Bollywood dark comedy “Newton”, while some say they feel more like a revolutionary such as Bhagat Singh.
They are public sector undertaking (PSU) employees, teachers, anganwadi and panchayat workers, among numerous others braving the treacherous terrain of the infamous Bastar region, which appear even more dangerous after a recent spurt in Naxal attacks ahead of the polls.
Many areas of Chhattisgarh will vote for the first time in 20 years, while some security and local administration officials proudly declare that a few of those are yet to make it to the Google Maps.
Talking to them, the immediate recollection is of Rajkumar Rao-starrer “Newton”, a film that took a satirical look at the Naxal problem through the eyes of a poll officer.
From walking up to 10 km to crossing rivers and spending nights in Naxal-hit areas, the poll officers will have to go past numerous hurdles and face life-threatening challenges to do their duty, but none of them is complaining.
A few of them admit that they are a bit afraid, but they also assert that they still want to do this.
A 25-year-old Anganwadi worker, the mother of two children, from Sukma district, says she is doing this for her father and brother, both of whom were part of the Salwa Judum and killed by Naxals.
Salwa Judum (meaning “Peace March” or “Purification Hunt” in Gondi language) was a militia mobilised and deployed as part of anti-insurgency operations in Chhattisgarh, aimed at countering Naxal violence in the region. The militia, comprising local tribal youth, received support and training from the Chhattisgarh government. It was banned by a Supreme Court order in 2011.
“I always wanted to do something revolutionary like my father, so I am doing this for him and my brother. We need peace and hopefully, a successful election will lead to that,” the woman, whose husband is in the police and who has left her kids with her mother-in-law, said.
“This is no less than a revolution for me, she added with tears in her eyes.
For another 22-year-old panchayat worker from Sukma, who has been asked to go to the hypersensitive polling booth at Chintalnar, it is a moment of pride as he will be the first person from his village to sit in a chopper.
“I am the only person from my block panchayat who is taking part in this exercise as my other colleagues are married. Being a bachelor, I was chosen. I am scared, but it is okay as I will be the first person from my village to sit in a chopper,” he said with a broad smile on his face.
The poll parties going to the hypersensitive booths on the 80-km stretch from Dornapal to Jagargunda were mostly airlifted and had reached their respective destinations a day or two before the polling day, Sukma Collector Jai Prakash Maurya said.
A teacher from Bijapur district, in his late 30s, who is going to the Usur block on poll duty, said he belonged to a family of freedom fighters and was always inspired by Bhagat Singh.
“I always told my students in the village that you should do something for the country. Now, it is my turn to do something. If you ask me how do I feel, I don’t know, but I might be doing something like what Bhagat Singh did,” he said.
All the 437 polling booths in Sukma and Bijapur districts have been declared as “sensitive”.
Bijapur Collector KB Kunjam said about 80 polling parties were airlifted and 76 relocated to a safer position, but there were still 40-odd booths that were extremely risky.
“Some of the poll officers conveyed to us that some of the polling booths, including those in schools, were painted with messages of boycotting the polls. So, we are making temporary arrangements,” he told PTI.
Both Maurya and Kunjam said some of the poll parties were dispatched two days before the polling.
Besides the local police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and at some places, Border Security Force (BSF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawans would accompany them, they said, adding that necessary security arrangements were put in place.
“This election process is like a war for us against Naxals, but without guns and with voting machines,” Maurya said.
On the request of the district collectors, the names of the poll officers have not been mentioned.
Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.
Voting began in 10 out of 18 Assembly constituencies in the first phase of Chhattisgarh elections on Monday under a tight security blanket comprising over 1.25 lakh police and paramilitary personnel. Minutes after Chhattisgarh goes to polls, Maoists attempt to scare voters, 2 kg IED blasted by Maoists near the Tumakpak camp, all safe so far.
70 per cent turnout in first phase of Chhattisgarh polls: EC
56.58% voter turnout recorded till 4.30 pm in the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls: ANI
Break-up of polling percentage by assembly seats: 61.47% in Kondagaon; 63.51% in Keshkal; 62% in Kanker; 58% in Bastar; 49% in Dantewada; 60.5% in Khairagarh; 64% in Dongargarh; 65.5% in Khujji.
47.18% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm, reports ANI
In the first phase of the elections in Chhattisgarh, 10.7 percent voter turnout was recorded till 10 am in the 18 constituencies. These 18 constituencies are in the eight Naxal-dominated districts in south Chhattisgarh.
A total of 190 candidates, including Chief Minister Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon, are contesting in this phase. The BJP had lost 12 of these 18 seats in the last polls in 2013.
Nearly one lakh security personnel have been deployed in the Naxal-affected districts going to polls in the first phase in Chhattisgarh on Monday, amid the threat from Maoists who have called for a boycott of the elections.
On the eve of the polls, a sub-inspector of the Border Security Force (BSF) lost his life when Naxals detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in Kanker district while a Maoist was gunned down in an encounter in Bijapur district.
Voting will be held on Monday in 18 seats spread over eight Naxal-affected districts in the state.
Naxal outfits have given calls for boycott of the election and executed over half-a-dozen attacks in the last 15 days, three of them major ones which left 13 people dead including a cameraman of national broadcaster Doordarshan who was covering the election campaign.
According to police, escorting polling parties to their destinations and bringing them back after the polls pose challenges to them in the Naxal hotbed.
“Around one lakh security personnel, including central paramilitary force, have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling in the first phase,” Chhattisgarh’s Special Director General (anti-Naxal operations) D M Awasthi told PTI.
All counter measures have been taken to thwart attempts by Maoists to disrupt the poll process, he said.
A total of 650 companies (roughly around 65,000 security personnel), including of paramilitary forces like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other state forces, have been sent by the Centre for poll duty, he said.
These units are apart from the paramilitary personnel and 200 companies of state forces already engaged in the anti- Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh, Awasthi said.
He said around 650 polling booth parties were airlifted by helicopters on Saturday to remote areas while other teams were being sent by road on Sunday.
Choppers of the Indian Air Force and the BSF were pressed into service for the purpose, he said.
A total of 650 companies (roughly around 65,000 security personnel), including of paramilitary forces like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other state forces, have been sent by the Centre for poll duty, he said.
These units are apart from the paramilitary personnel and 200 companies of state forces already engaged in the anti- Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh, Awasthi said.
He said there are inputs of Naxals planning to plant IEDs to target security men. “Therefore, a hawk eye was being kept on roads in such areas,” the official said.
Awasthi said forces that have arrived from other states have been advised to avoid using any road unless it has been sanitised by “road opening parties” (ROPs) or subjected to a de-mining exercise to detect and clear IEDs.
Security men have also been asked to avoid patrolling on foot as Naxals are known to place iron spikes to inflict injuries, he said.
They have also been asked to maintain extra caution and sanitise polling booths and other premises in sensitive areas, he said.
In the last 10 days, over 300 IEDs were recovered from the Bastar region and Rajnandgaon district by security forces, he added.
Another state police official said as many as 198 polling booths have been relocated in the eight districts going to polls, in view of the Maoist threat and convenience of locals.
The highest number of 76 polling booths were shifted in Bijapur, followed by Sukma-40, Kanker-25, Dantewada-21, Narayanpur-18, Rajnandgaon-12, Kondagaon-four and Bastar- two, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Drones have been deployed in sensitive areas to track the movements of Naxals as they might target polling personnel on way to the booths, he said.
Police have been asked to maintain a strict vigil on the borders with Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Due to the Naxal threat, polling in 10 constituencies – Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta – will start at 7 am and end at 3 pm.
In the other eight seats Khairgarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot the polling time will be 8 am to 5 pm.
On November 8, four civilians and a CISF jawan were killed when Naxals detonated a bus with an IED in Dantewada district.
Before that on October 30, three police personnel and a cameraman of national broadcaster Doordarshan were killed in a Maoist attack in Aranpur area of Dantewada.
On October 27, four CRPF personnel were killed and two others injured after Maoists blew up their bullet proof bunker vehicle with an IED in Bijapur district.
Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.
Chhattisgarh polls are again about its Chief Minister Raman Singh who for 15 years has dominated the state’s scene. It is also about Singh’s ‘frenemy’ leader Ajit Jogi and his never-ending battles with the Congress.
This time Jogi has formed a ‘third front’ by joining hands with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, which could be a big stumbling block for the Congress’ bid to unseat Singh’s government. Jogi asserts he is fighting to end the BJP’s rule but his detractors think that he is again bailing out Singh.
Nevertheless, a rejuvenated Congress under Rahul Gandhi hopes to cash in on what it sees as a strong anti-incumbency mood among the electorate. It thinks Jogi and his Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) are on the decline because their role is seen as spoilers preventing change.
A third factor that remains in the background, particularly in certain hill areas, is the role of Maoists whose waning influence is punctuated by intermittent deadly attacks. The Maoists are not just against the elections. They have put up posters, directly threatening people against voting for the BJP.
Chhattisgarh has an assembly of 91 seats. It goes to poll on November 12 when the first phase of voting will take place for 18 seats, 12 of which are located in the Naxalite-hit Bastar region and Rajnandgaon. The second phase, which will cover the remaining seats, will take place on November 20.
Singh admits that it is not easy for him and the BJP. However, he feels that the people will still vote for his leadership and party because they have seen changes under his tenure. He sees disarray in the Congress camp though he won’t treat Jogi’s threat to play the kingmaker lightly.
Jogi is not contesting the elections himself, preferring to campaign for his third front. Earlier, he had announced that he would contest against Singh in the latter’s home constituency of Rajnandgaon. Later he backed out.
In the 2013 polls, the vote share between the BJP and the Congress was less than 1 percent. While the BJP got 41.04 percent of the total votes, the Congress polled 40.29 percent, but could only secure 39 assembly seats. The BJP got 49 seats and one each was won by the BSP and an independent.
The narrow margin of victory five years ago has made the Congress more hopeful of breaking the BJP’s winning streak this time.
Jogi thinks that his alliance partner, the BSP, can eat into the votes of the BJP as well as the Congress in some pockets to give his front a decent number of seats for a key role in the post-poll scenario if the December 11 results present a hung house.
Interestingly, Singh, unlike the Congress, is not treating the Jogi-Mayawati alliance as a non-starter. “The BSP has a 4-5 percent votes and Jogi has 2-3 percent votes. If they add up to 5 or 6 percent votes, there will be impact on around 30 constituencies,” he said in a recent interview to a media house.
The Congress is focusing sharply on the distress of farmers, claiming that days of Singh’s magic as ‘Chawal Baba’ (the miracle maker who ensured rice to poor under a successful Public Distribution System) are over. The Congress also harps on what it calls the lack of development under the BJP, denouncing the latter’s claim of vikas as all hype and no substance.
However, dismissing the talk of tremendous voter fatigue working against him, Singh has held that “the anti-incumbency that is talked about now was said in 2013 as well. But people think that change has taken place in 15 years — a new Chhattisgarh is being built…”
All the parties concede that Singh’s achievements cannot be dismissed as mere claims because the state has made considerable progress though some social indicators are still on the lower side.
Many leaders believe the key to retaining or capturing power in Raipur depends largely on who wins in the Bastar division, which also goes by the Maoists’ description as the Red Zone.
In the 2013 polls, the BJP won the elections but lost its hold in the region even as the Congress gained an upper hand. Of the 12 seats in the region, the Congress grabbed eight seats while the BJP mustered the remaining four seats. The saving grace for the BJP was that it won in other regions.
Since then, Singh’s government has undertaken a lot of development work in Bastar. In his pre-election interviews, the CM has asserted that “there are some patches where they (Maoists) have influence, but the people of Bastar are with the government on the path of peace and development. The development work in Bastar is because of people’s faith (in administration). We have laid roads in Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur, (where earlier) people could not dream of it. Big interstate bridges have been built on Andhra Pradesh and Odisha border. This has changed the economy of the area. (There have been) medical colleges and irrigation… I believe the people are with us”.
That brings us to the next question: will Raman Singh remain merely a leader of Chhattisgarh?
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, Singh’s name was among those who were thought to have been sounded out for eventually shifting to the Centre. Perhaps, once the Chhattisgarh polls are over, Singh may move away from the state politics — as the BJP needs to harness new faces and younger lot of leaders for its future in the state. This shift might happen after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.
Shah released the party’s manifesto in Raipur, lauding the three-term government of chief minister Raman Singh for the developmental work it had done for the state once referred to as ‘BIMARU’.
On the final day of campaign for the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) para-dropped big guns to ensure that the opposition Congress party felt the heat. BJP chief Amit Shah and Hindutva mascot Yogi Adityanath, led the attack from the front.
Shah released the party’s manifesto in Raipur, lauding the three-term government of chief minister Raman Singh for the developmental work it had done for the state once referred to as ‘BIMARU’ (original acronym coined in the 1980s for the four states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh that were economically backward).
“The Congress ruled the country for 55 years, but it is the BJP which is working hard to ensure that the fruits of development reach the last person in the society. The manifesto for the fourth term in office has been prepared by consulting all sections of the society. I assure you that all promises made will be honoured,” Shah said.
Raman Singh, who is seeking re-election for a fourth term, told reporters: “The Congress used farmers like vote banks. They did nothing for farmers in the past 60 years. This year, we will buy 80 lakh quintals of wheat from farmers.” Singh was congratulated by his party president for making the state of Chhattisgarh “almost Naxalism-free”.
“The BJP government under chief minister Raman Singh has contained naxalism and made the state almost free of it. A party that feels naxalism is a medium for revolution cannot do any good for Chhattisgarh,” Shah accused the Congress.
Shah’s statement was in reference to Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar’s comments in Raipur last Saturday, when he said, “Naxals had launched a ‘revolution’ which cannot be stopped through guns but resolved through talks.” Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was also unsparing in his attack against the Congress.
Addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Lormi, Adityanath said: “The Congress encouraged naxalism for its gains, but when it became dangerous for the security of people, it was the BJP which had to deal with the issue sternly. The Congress has been encouraging Naxalism actively and covertly.”
Adityanath accused the grand old party of jeopardising the nation’s security. “The Congress, for its own gains, played with the security of the country, be Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand, where the issue was of giving asylum to naxalites, or using states like Kashmir for political benefits. But for the BJP, national security is of prime importance, hence we never accepted toying with it,” Yogi said.
The BJP’s Hindutva posterboy, who has been championing the cause of the Ram temple at the disputed site in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, raised the issue in battleground Chhattisgarh, too.
Adityanath said: “While it is a known fact that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya, the matter is pending before the Supreme Court. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had petitioned before the court that a decision should not have been taken over the issue before 2019.”
He further alleged, “The Congress should be asked if they are related to Lord Ram or with foreign invader Babur. Congress has no idea about the country’s respect and prestige. The Congress has always played with national security and is now coming to you for votes.”
The first phase of polling to 18 out of the 90 Assembly segments in Chhattisgarh takes place on November 12.
Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.
“I have always believed that a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition will have a majority in 2019,” Ajit Jogi said
King in Chhattisgarh, kingmaker in 2019. Congress rebel Ajit Jogi has no doubt about his role in the coming election in Chhattisgarh and the national polls early next year. “We have made an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left. It has decided that I will be chief minister,” said Ajit Jogi, who served as the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh after it was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
As for prime minister, Mr Jogi was equally emphatic that BSP leader Mayawati is most suitable for the top job.
“I have always believed that a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition will have a majority in 2019. It will be decided then (who will be PM) but I personally believe Mayawati deserves it as the first Dalit, a woman, as a politician from Uttar Pradesh and as a four-time chief minister,” Mr Jogi, 72, said.
Mr Jogi has been an Indian Police service (IPS) and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He became a Rajya Sabha member in 1986. After around three decades in the Congress, he quit in 2016 after being sidelined by the party. Weeks later, he formed his own party.
The Congress, which failed to seal a pact with Mayawati in months of alliance talks, fears that its rebel leader and his son will dent the party’s chances in the state polls. The party had eyed an easy victory over the BJP, which is seen to face anti-incumbency after three straight terms.
Mr Jogi has boasted that his alliance took shape in just a few hours of discussion with Mayawati.
Elections for the 90-seat Chhattisgarh assembly will be held in two phases on November 12 and 20.
Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.
Launching a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi, poll-bound Chhattishgarh’s Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday alleged the Congress chief was “sort of an entertainment” for people in the state and his campaign could be detrimental to his own party.
Ahead of the crucial first phase of voting in the state on Monday, Singh said Gandhi does not know anything about Chhattisgarh and his rallies would not help the Congress draw any significant votes.
Singh’s counter-attack came a day after the Congress president, during his election campaign on Friday, accused Singh of indulging in graft and of doing any work only after taking “permission from his 10-15 industrialist friends”.
“Rahul does not know anything about Chhattisgarh. People of Chhattisgarh do not take him seriously. He is sort of an entertainment for them,” Singh told PTI in an interview.
Singh, who has been chief minister of the tribal-dominated state for a record 15 years out of its 18-year history, said Gandhi’s presence in the state would not dent poll prospects of the BJP but might prove detrimental to his own Congress party.
While there was no immediate comment from the Congress on the latest jibe at its party chief, the allegations levelled by various political parties have often become personal amid a rising election fever in the country’s political landscape.
While the Congress has been accusing the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in various states of indulging in crony capitalism, Gandhi has launched an aggressive campaign centred around these charges for the five poll-bound states, including Chhattisgarh, which is being seen as semi-finals before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The saffron party has denied these charges and have levelled counter-allegations of corruption and crony-capitalism being things of past when the Congress was in power.
Gandhi has been actively campaigning in Chhattisgarh where voting will be done in two phases — on November 12 for 18 seats (including 12 in naxal-affected areas) and on November 20 for the remaining 72 seats.
Voting in Singh’s own constituency Rajnandgaon, where the Congress has given the ticket to late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece and former BJP leader Karuna Shukla, will also take place on Monday.
During his campaign rallies on Friday, Gandhi had hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Singh over various issues, including lack of development in Chhattisgarh.
Singh, who is eying a fourth term as chief minister, said Chhattisgarh has developed on all fronts contrary to what the Congress party claims.
“Chhattisgarh used to be a backward stage. In 15 years of the BJP rule, it has become one of the developed states. We are growing at a great pace and will soon be along top five developed states of the country,” he said.
To a question on whether the BJP will lose votes due to an alliance between former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi-led Janta Congress Chhattisgarh and Dalit leader Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Singh said the BJP’s vote share will remain intact despite the formation of this “selfish coalition”.
“It is a selfish coalition and both the parties will not have any effect on the BJP votes,” he said.
On the menace of Naxalism, Singh said Maoists in the state were living on life support.
“We have neutralised Naxalites and their agenda with our development work. Maoists in the state are living on life support. It will soon be over,” the chief minister said.
The 66-year-old BJP veteran, who was a practising ayurvedic doctor before taking the plunge into politics in 1980s, became Chhattisgarh’s chief minister in December 2003, after the saffron party snatched power from the Congress just about three years after the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh.
In the 2013 election, the BJP got 49 seats while the Congress secured 39. The BSP got one, while one seat was won by an Independent candidate.
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