Chhattisgarh elections: BJP relies on Raman Singh, Congress on anti-incumbency and Ajit Jogi on the third front

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.

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Rahul Gandhi just ‘an entertainment’ for people in Chhattisgarh, knows nothing about state: Raman Singh

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.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

Raipur diary: Chhattisgarh CM launches poll campaign, Congress mum on manifesto

Raman launches Bastar poll campaign

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh kicked-off the BJP’s Bastar mission with the agenda of peace and development. Noting that growth of the region at four-time the original rate was his main agenda, Singh said the Bastar region remains a priority even for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bastar region, larger than Kerala in an area, is affected by the Maoist violence. Political parties believe the tribal belt holds a key to the formation of the government.

It is also true that the myth about ‘road to power from Bastar’ was dented in 2013 when the Congress won eight of the 12 seats from Bastar. Modi will address his first election rally at Jagdalpur in Bastar on November 9.

Congress to maintain secrecy on manifesto

Without naming the BJP, chairman of Congress manifesto Chairman T S Singhdeo claimed that during the previous elections, the opposition took out a leaf out of its manifesto which it had declared before. Singhdeo was referring to the Minimum Support Price of Rs 2,000 and a bonus of Rs 250 which the Congress had mentioned in its manifesto. Later, the BJP had allegedly revised its own manifesto and hiked up the MSP and bonus to Rs 2,100 and Rs 270 for peddling them as their main poll agenda.

The Congress state committee is likely to release the manifesto after the ruling BJP, sources in the Congress said. A total confidentiality is being maintained while preparing the manifesto this year, they added.

‘Happea’ for happiness and peace

The word ‘Happea’ sounds strange, but the mission is noble. The word derives its name from the first three letters of ‘happiness’ and ‘peace’. In fact, this is the prime objective of Raipur-based academician Jawahar Surisetti behind the launch of a unique web-portal.

The portal is built on the premise that different age groups have different definitions and reasons for happiness. The idea came to him after he was struck by the low ranking of India in the Global Happiness Index.

“There is a mismatch, with India being the spiritual capital of the world but also not being happy,” he said. The Happea movement caters to four segments – kids, teens, young adults, and senior adults.

Shortage of 2000 currency notes

The shortage of currency notes of 2000 denomination ahead of the Assembly polls is being linked to a rising demand of cash during the elections. The disappearing of these pink notes from the markets and ATMs has led to this suspicion gathering strength. Even though bankers admit that there is a shortage of these notes, they claim they cannot do anything as most of these notes in circulation is not returning to the banks. Bank customers are getting money in the denominations of K500, K200 and K100 from ATMs. “There is no unusual demand of K2,000 notes in the state. Either the hoarding (of these notes) is to be blamed, or the printing of such notes has stopped,” tax consultant Ramesh Warlyani said.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

Chhattisgarh Elections : Congress Fields Vajpayee’s Niece To Take On Raman Singh

The first phase of assembly election in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 12 and the last date for filing of nominations is October 23.

The Congress has fielded former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla in the Rajnandgaon assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh against Chief Minister Raman Singh.

In the second list released by the Congress for the first phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly election, the party declared its candidates for the remaining six constituencies. It earlier declared candidates for 12 seats.

The first phase of assembly election in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 12 and the last date for filing of nominations is October 23.

Karuna Shukla had quit the BJP a few years ago and joined the Congress.

While Girwar Janghel will contest from the Khairagarh seat, Bhuneshwar Singh Baghel will contest from Dongargarh-SC seat and Daleshwar Sahu from the Dongargaon assembly constituency.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

BJP Releases List of 77 Candidates for Chhattisgarh Polls

The decision was taken after the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting of the party. Chief Minister Raman Singh is set to contest from Rajnandgaon seat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party released its first list of 77 candidates for the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh on Saturday and announced to contest polls on 38 out of 119 seats in Telangana.

Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly segments, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Union minister J P Nadda said. The list was finalised at the BJP’s central election committee meeting that was chaired by party president Amit Shah and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.

Among those fielded by the BJP include former IAS officer O P Chaudhary and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike, who recently left the Congress and joined the BJP.

Announcing the list, Telangana BJP election in-charge Nadda further said that BJP will also contest Mizoram Assembly elections on 13 seats.

Eighteen naxal-affected constituencies will go to polls in the first phase on November 12, while the rest of the 72 constituencies would go to polls in the second phase on November 20.

Earlier in the day, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party had also released its second list of 12 candidates. The party has forged an alliance with former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and the Communist Party of India, and will contest 33 Assembly seats.

Meanwhile, nine more candidates have filed nomination papers for the first phase of Chhattisgarh polls. This takes the number of candidates who have filed their papers to 11.

On Saturday, two candidates each filed their papers for Rajnandgaon, Antagarh and Dantewada seats and one each for Khairagarh, Dongargarh and Dongargaon, an official said.

For Dantewada seat, Congress’s Devti Karma and Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Nanda Ram Sori filed their papers. Karma is the sitting Congress MLA from Dantewada. Others who filed nomination papers Saturday included Dinesh Singh (Shiv Sena) from Khairagarh and Rajkumar Sahu (Shiv Sena) from Dongargaon.

Nominations cannot be filed on Sunday, it being holiday, so only two days — October 22 and 23 — are now left for filing of nominations for the first phase, the official said.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

Chhattisgarh elections: The interesting case of Kanker district

The central Indian state of Raipur will go to the Assembly elections later this state. The state, which was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, has been under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2003. Led by Chief Minister Raman Singh, the saffron party is trying hard to win its fourth consecutive term and the top leadership is also sparing no effort to make it happen.

An interesting story of Chhattisgarh elections is that of Kanker, the southern district which is located near the Bastar region. Rich in natural resources, Kanker district has three Assembly constituencies and all of them are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). After delimitation, the number of Assembly seats in Kanker district increased from two to three with Antagarh becoming the third. Earlier, the BJP had the two seats under their belt but in 2013, the Congress won two of the three seats with only Antagarh going to the ruling party.

However, Kanker is often in the news for the 2014 by-election in Antagarh where the Congress candidate Manturam Pawar withdrew in the last minute to give the BJP victory. In 2014, the Antagarh Assembly seat fell vacant after BJP’s Vikram Usendi won from Kanker Lok Sabha seat and there was a need for a by-election. The BJP fielded Bhojraj Nag and he won by a margin of over 53,000 votes. NOTA (None of The Above) finished second with 13,556 votes which was more than Ambedkarite Party of India’s Roopdhar Pando (12,285).

Congress candidate in by-election withdrew in the last moment :

The withdrawal of Pawar had stunned his own partymen and he was expelled from the party. The Congress had alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to make Pawar give up his candidature. There were also reports that spoke about telephonic conversations purportedly between several influential people and also Pawar and they led to continued blame games between the political opponents.

BJP & Congress seats and vote shares in Kanker district constituencies

While the BJP had both Assembly seats in Kanker before delimitation, it won all three seats in the 2008 elections after Antagarh came into existence. In these seats, the BJP won 47 per cent of the vote-share in the district in 2003; 43 per cent in 2008 and 41 per cent in the 2013 Assembly elections.

The Congress, on the other hand, could win 33 per cent of vote share in Kanker district in 2003 though it had no seats. In 2008, its vote share decreased to 31 per cent while it continued to be seat-less. In 2013, as the Congress got two seats in Kanker, its vote share jumped to 45 per cent which is even better than the BJP’s show in 2008 when it won all three seats in the district.