The BJP released a second list of 64 candidates for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls on Monday, hours after the Election Commission (EC) announced that the elections will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. With this, the party has named candidates for 85 of the 90 Assembly constituencies in the state.
The BJP named three more sitting MPs on its list, fielding its state president and Bilaspur MP Arun Sao from Lormi in Bilaspur district. The other two parliamentarians on the list are Raigarh MP Gomati Sai who will be in the fray from Pathalgaon in Jashpur district, and Sarguja MP Renuka Singh from Bharatpur-Sonhat in Koriya district. In its first list, the party fielded Durg MP Vijay Baghel against Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Patan.
Of the party’s 13 MLAs at present, all except Beltara (Bilaspur district) legislator Rajnish Singh found their names on the list. Among those again in the fray are leaders such as former Chief Minister Raman Singh (Rajnandgaon in the district of the same name) and former ministers Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur City South) and Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud in Dhamtari district). The party also pulled a surprise by giving a ticket to the father of a man who was killed during a communal riot in Biranpur in April. The BJP had targeted the Congress over the murder of 23-year-old Bhuneshwar Sahu who died during the violence triggered by the death of a father-son duo from a minority community. Ishwar Sahu will contest from Saja in Bemetara district that is currently represented by minister Ravindra Choubey.
While 29 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), the party has till now fielded 30 candidates from the SC community and 10 Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates from 10 ST-reserved seats. There are also 31 candidates from Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Of the candidates fielded, 14 are women. Former IAS officers O P Choudhary from Raigarh and Neelkanth Tekam from Keshkal have also got tickets and so has popular Chhattisgarhi actor Anuj Sharma (Dharsiwa in Raipur).
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“Forty-three of the 85 MLAs are first-time candidates. About 34 of the MLAs are below 50 years old. This shows we have given an opportunity to young leaders and at the same time we have retained our experienced leadership,” said Sao. Taking a dig at the Congress, he asked, “Why has the Congress not released their list of candidates? This shows there are internal differences.”
In Chhattisgarh, the BJP is facing the tall task of unseating Baghel who is one of the tallest leaders from the OBC community in a state where the backward classes are estimated to constitute almost half of the population. With the Congress raising the caste census message, the BJP will have to find a way to neutralise it. The BJP is likely to centre its campaign around accusations of corruption against the Baghel government. In the past five years, the Baghel government has faced a series of accusations in connection with several alleged scams — from the alleged Rs 2,161-crore liquor scam to the alleged coal-levy scam.
The Baghel-led Congress has taken a leaf out of the BJP’s playbook to counter the Opposition party’s Hindutva narrative with its messaging focused on religion. From a Ramayana festival to Ram statues to a tourism circuit, it has been going all out to reach out to believers.
