The BJP on Monday released its second list of 64 candidates for the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. Three sitting MPs and two former IAS officers have been included in this list. More than 20 new faces are also included in the list. Nine women candidates have also been given a chance in the list. Ministers included in the cabinet of the previous Raman Singh government have also been given a chance in this list. These include Brijmohan Aggarwal, Rajesh Munat, Mahesh Gagda, Amar Aggarwal, Kedar Kashyap, Ajay Chandrakar, Punnu Lal Mohle, Bhaiya Lal Rajwade and Prem Prakash Pandey.
Of the 64 seats for which BJP has announced candidates, 19 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and nine for Scheduled Caste (SC). BJP state unit president and Bilaspur MP Arun Sao has been fielded from Lormi seat, Surguja MP Renuka Singh from Bharatpur-Sonhat (ST reserved) and Raigarh MP Gomti Sai has been fielded from Pathalgaon (ST). Former chief minister Raman Singh will contest from the traditional Rajnandgaon seat, while leader of opposition in the state assembly Narayan Prasad Chandel has been given the ticket again from his Zanjeer-Champa seat.
It is known that the first list of 21 candidates announced by BJP on August 17 included 16 new faces, five former MLAs and five women. Currently, five seats (Bemetara, Khallari, Belatara, Ambikapur and Pandariya) are left for which candidates are yet to be announced. BJP’s eyes are on the votes of Sahu community in the state. This is the reason why BJP has given ticket to one Sahu against Minister Ravindra Choubey on Saja seat.
A BJP leader said- BJP has tried to give a statewide message by giving ticket to Ishwar Sahu, father of deceased Bhuvaneshwar Sahu, who was killed in a communal clash in Biranpur a few months ago. The Sahu community has the highest number (about 12 percent) in the plains of Chhattisgarh. People of Sahu community were once traditional voters of BJP but in the 2018 elections they shifted towards Congress. This is the reason why BJP is once again wooing the Sahu community.
On the other hand, BJP has given tickets to two leaders of Dilip Singh Judeo family from Chadrapur and Kota seats. The Judeo family has influence in the party. This is the reason why the party has given tickets to both Prabal Pratap Singh Judev, the youngest son of late Dilip Singh Judev and daughter-in-law Sanyogita Judev, from Kota and Chandrapur seats respectively. This will be Prabal Pratap’s first election while Sanyogita will be contesting for the second time. Sanyogita had lost to Ramkumar Yadav in 2018.
BJP has also given tickets to two former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers including OP Choudhary, Neelkanth Tekam. The first impression after the list was released was that Raman Singh had played an important role in finalizing the candidates. However, after the announcement of this list, party cadres have started expressing dissatisfaction. A BJP leader said – The party has given tickets to the same old faces who had contributed to the party’s defeat in the 2018 elections.
During the last four years, Congress has tried to create a feeling of Chhattisgarhism among the people to counter the BJP. If analysts are to be believed, it seems that BJP does not have an answer to this strategy of Congress. Political commentator Harsh Dubey says that it was expected that BJP would address Chhattisgarhism through better ticket distribution, but this did not happen.
At the same time, Congress supporters are confident after the second list of BJP, because they believe that Congress has established a strong story of insider versus outsider. Since BJP candidates are mostly old, Congress needs to reinvigorate its 2018 campaign with more aggression and effectiveness. Another BJP leader hoping for a ticket claimed that BJP workers are not happy with the list. It was because of these upper caste ministers that we lost the 2018 elections. BJP has given him a chance once again.