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    Chhattisgarh elections: BSP & family by his side, Ajit Jogi says he will be king, not king-maker

    Synopsis

    Kota is from where the former CM’s wife and three-time MLA Renu Jogi is contesting on JCC (J) ticket after the Congress did not give her a ticket.

    Ajit-Jogi-bccl-fileET Bureau
    Ajit Jogi claims he will be the “king and not the king-maker”. (File Photo)
    MARWAHI/KOTA: Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, whose Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) has tied up with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and CPI, is expected to be a major factor in the second phase of polling in the assembly election on November 20.

    The Jogis are camping in Gaurella rest house in Pandran for much of this week. Pandran, in the Kota assembly seat of Sarguja region, is right next to Marwahi assembly constituency from where Jogi is contesting from the seat his son had won the last time with the highest margin in the state.

    Kota is from where the former CM’s wife and three-time MLA Renu Jogi is contesting on JCC (J) ticket after the Congress did not give her a ticket. About 50 kilometres away, the family’s daughter-in-law and Amit Jogi’s wife, Richa Jogi, is contesting her maiden election from Akaltara, a reserved seat, on a ticket from BSP.

    Ajit Jogi claims he will be the “king and not the king-maker”, saying the alliance will win a majority and showing the stamp paper on which he brought out his party’s manifesto “which others copied”.

    Some in the party said Jogi is aiming at about 10 seats. “If JCC (J)-BSP-CPI alliance wins 10 seats in the 90-member assembly, there is no stopping Jogi from becoming CM like M Kumaraswamy became in Karnataka,” a party leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Renu Jogi told ET, “It is a big challenge before us. I am optimistic that people will back us.”

    JCC (J) is banking on a high number of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe seats and population, especially of Satnami voters, in Bilaspur, Raigarh and Ambikapur districts. Party members exuded confidence that the JCC (J) would win at least five seats – Marwahi, Kota, Akaltara, Bilha and Takhatpur. They said the BSP could further win Pamgarh along with Jaijaipur, which the BSP had won the last time, while the CPI could win Konta.

    Amit Jogi had won Marwahi by a record margin of 46,250 votes in 2013 on a Congress ticket, higher than even the margin with which CM Raman Singh won from Rajnandangaon. Renu Jogi won Kota with a slender margin of 5,000 votes last time but she said that happened because there were more than 30 candidates in the fray while this time there are only 11 candidates.

    Akaltara, with 45% SC/ST voters, is also being seen as a “safe seat” for Richa Jogi and Mayawati has already done a rally for her in the constituency.

    In Bilha, the JCC (J) is seeking to stop the BJP’s state president Dharam Lal Kaushik as the sitting MLA of Congress, Siyaram Kaushik, is contesting on a JCC (J) ticket.

    Renu Jogi and JCC (J) candidates, however, face a challenge in convincing the traditional Congress voters not to vote for the Congress but for Jogi’s new party. Locals said Kota has always been a Congress seat and that they also identify with Renu Jogi, who has been the MLA for the past 12 years. She has been telling voters that she is “fighting for abhimaan (pride)” after the Congress denied her the ticket. “I was humiliated in the party for several months but I stayed quiet. I was not called for party meetings. At the inauguration of the new party office in Raipur by Rahul Gandhi few months ago, my name was not on the SPG list and I had to wait for an hour in the sun to get inside,” she told ET.


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