C'garh bypoll: Cong bracing for tough fight against upbeat BJP

Congress is likely to face an uphill task during next month's by-poll for Antagarh Assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district where it suffered a blow at the hands of ruling BJP in last year's Assembly elections.
Tribal reserved Antagarh seat under North Bastar division has been vacant since former state forest minister Vikram Usendi, the sitting BJP MLA, resigned from there after winning the recent Lok Sabha poll from Kanker seat.
With the announcement of schedule for the by-poll to be held on September 13, Congress is leaving no stone unturned and has started mobilising party workers in the region to give the BJP a befitting reply in the insurgency-hit constituency.

On the other hand, the BJP is confident of retaining the seat, known to be its bastion.
Coming into existence in 2008 after delimitation, Antagrah(ST) seat was won consecutively twice by BJP's Usendi, a teacher-turned-politician, who is said to be widely popular among the tribals.
He was believed to be facing huge anti-incumbency in Antagarh during last year's Assembly polls, as he had managed a narrow win by a mere 109 votes against his Congress rival Manturam Pawar in the 2008 Assembly election. Contrary to speculation, the victory margin significantly increased as he defeated Pawar by 5,171 votes in 2013.

The trend emerging in past two decades at Antagarh indicates that the electorate there has been traditionally favouring the saffron camp.
"If you look at the past, it is not an easy task for the Congress to capture this seat. Although, we are confident of a good show as we did well in tribal-dominated Bastar region during last year's Assembly polls," Congress state spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi told PTI.