Ajit Jogi overshadows ticket distribution in Chhattisgarh

Central Election Committee slated to meet on Monday; to decide tickets for second round likely to be stormy affair

With Chattisgarh being the first of the five states going to the polls early next month, the Congress is having a tough time finalizing candidates for the two phase polls.

The party’s entire top brass in the state being wiped out in a deadly Naxal attack in May this year, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi who had been sidelined for long, now appears to be gaining ground in the state.

With Jogi’s shadow looming large over ticket distribution in the state, his detractors which includes the PCC chief Charan Das Mahant within the deeply faction ridden state unit are a miffed lot.

The Central Election Committee which met here to decide tickets for the second round today saw both camps put forward their respective list of candidates. Two rounds of meetings were held today, before the party released the second list of 45 candidates. The Assembly has 72 seats and the party has still to announce the remaining seats.

Prominent names among this second list are Jogi’s son Amit Jogi to contest from traditional bastion Marwahi and his wife Renu Jogi contesting from Kota. Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey will be contesting from Saja, as per the second list.

The party has already declared 17 candidates in its first list; among those names are relatives of three slain party leaders - Umesh Patel, son of slain party chief Nand Kumar Patel, Devti Karma wife of Mahendra Karma, former leader of opposition in the state and Alka Mudaliyar wife of former MLA Uday Muadliyar.

However party leaders disclose that Jogi’s choice of candidates seem to be prevailing over the CEC.

Charan Das Mahant and Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Ravindra Choubey are both staunchly opposed to Jogi and are displeased with the current state of affairs. Jogi had had a public spat with general secretary in charge of the state BK Hariprasad but of late has found favour with Screening committee (the committee shortlists candidate names) incharge CP Joshi.

CP Joshi who is known to be a close confidant of Vice President Rahul Gandhi has also been implementing wholly, a strict criteria for ticket selection outlined by Gandhi himself. All those who had been given tickets last time but had got less than 34% votes will not be eligible this time.
 
Says a senior party leader, “At this rate, a majority of the sitting MLAs will stand to lose their tickets. They are also looking at seats where despite there being a sitting Congress MLA the Lok Sabha candidate lost by a margin of more than 10,000 votes. They will also not be given tickets again.” Some of those likely to lose their tickets this time could be MLAs Amarjit Singh, Mohammed Akbar, Dharamjit.

Armed with their list of alternate candidates, party leaders from the state are likely to voice their grievances at the CEC on Monday in the capital.

Factionalism is so rampant within the state unit, that till date no one has been appointed the Campaign Committee chief although Jogi is said to be eyeing the post as it would make a chief ministerial contender.

A senior Congress leader however said that veteran Motilal Vora is being considered for the post as the party is not too keen to field his son Arun Vora who has already lost twice. Jogi’s wife Renu a sitting MLA and son Amit Jogi are likely to bag tickets.

Left with little option in a state where Jogi if ignored wholly, could play the spoiler for the Congress, the party has taken care to accomodate the senior leader in its poll plans.