Chhattisgarh polls: Ajit Jogi's party to field suspended Cong MLAs

MLAs R K Rai and Siyaram Kaushik, suspended by the Congress for making "anti-party" statements, will contest the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls on the tickets of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), the latter said Thursday.

The JCC(J) has decided to nominate Rai and Kaushik from their current constituencies Gundardehi and Bilha, respectively, the party's general secretary Abdul Hamid Hayat told PTI.

The Ajit Jogi-led party has so far declared 48 candidates, including Rai and Kaushik. In a seat-sharing agreement with BSP and CPI, Jogi's party would be contesting a total of 55 seats.

The BSP will contest 33 and the CPI two seats.

Ajit Jogi has been declared the chief ministerial candidate of the coalition.

Rai and Kaushik are known to be staunch supporters of Jogi, a former chief minister, who floated JCC(J) after parting ways with the Congress in 2016.

The Congress, which won 39 out of the 90 seats in the last Assembly polls, has taken disciplinary action against three of its MLAs in the last five years.

Amit Jogi, Ajit Jogi's son and the MLA from Marwahi, was expelled from the Congress in 2016. Rai and Kaushik were suspended later.

Rai and Kaushik supported Amit Jogi in the Assembly on every issue ever since he was expelled from the Congress.

Assembly elections will be held in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh on November 12 and November 20.