As many as 18 seats of the state are going for Assembly elections in the first phase of voting which is now scheduled to take place on November 11. The last date for withdrawal ends today.
Chief Minister Raman Singh who has been leading BJP election campaign in the state, is worried for its likely impact on the poll outcome. His party had bagged 15 of the 18 seats of the region that includes Bastar, a Congress citadel with large tribal population in the previous Assembly elections.
However, the scenario has changed this time. A number of senior leaders seem determined to teach Singh a lesson as they felt they were ignored during ticket distribution.
People from the region were not happy with the saffron party due to the failure of the administration in containing the growing Naxal menace. To make matters worse, senior leaders from the party seem to support rebels behind the scene with assurance of all kinds of support during the elections.
Incidentally, both BJP and Congress are facing problems on five seats each. For the BJP, its rebels in the Bastar region- Jamuna Manjhi (Konta), Rajaram Todem (Jagdalpur), Somnath Uike (Antagarh) and Dhiraj Netam (Kanker) – are creating problems. The situation is slightly better in the Rajnandgaon Parliamentary segment where only one rebel, Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia (Khujji) has entered the fray.
In Bastar, the Congress is facing rebellion from Neena Rawatiya (Bijapur), Shankar Ram Thakur (Chitrkot) and Shankar Sodi (Kondagaon). In the Rajanadgaon there are two rebels, Rohit Kumar Mahobia (Khairagarh) and Shivraj Singh Usare, the sitting MLA from Mohala-Manpur.
Though both the parties are still confident of “pacifying” the rebels, they can pay a heavy price in some constituencies in particular. For the Congress Usare (Mahala-Manpur) can be a big threat as he is the sitting MLA and still hold a sway in the area.
Similarly, with Sodi in Kondagaon, it could be a deja vu for the Congress as in 2008 the former managed to poll 4627 votes as an independent, when the winning margin of the BJP’s, Lata Usendi, over Congress’s Mohan Makram was merely 2777 votes.
