Congress taking Lok Sabha polls lightly: Raman

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said opposition Congress lacked the confidence to face the elections which was evident from the frequent reshuffling of its Lok Sabha candidates in the state.
"...Don't know how long this interchange will continue but this clearly shows lack of self confidence (in Congress)," Singh told reporters, referring to renomination of Congress candidate Chhaya Verma from Raipur Lok Sabha seat after being dropped earlier.
Congress had replaced Verma with MLA and veteran leader Satyanarayan Sharma but renominated her as Lok Sabha nominee last night, apparently considering the caste equation in Raipur seat. Verma belongs to Kurmi community.

Similarly, Menaka Singh, a Congress nominee from Raigarh seat, was replaced by Arti Singh.
"Once confidence was shown in a candidate following which she got engaged in election campaign. Later another candidate was nominated at her place, then again the earlier one was chosen. It seems that this will continue till the last minute," Singh said.
This shows that Congress' state and national leadership is taking Lok Sabha polls lightly, he said.

He wished BJP's Lok Sabha candidates success for all the 11 seats in Chhattisgarh. "Last time we had won ten seats, but this time our target is to win all 11 (seats)," Singh said.

"The synergy of BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi's nationwide impact and welfare schemes of state government will be seen in upcoming elections in Chhattisgarh," Singh said.
Among the BJP candidates is Singh's son Abhishek who is fielded from Rajnandgaon constituency.
Other BJP candidates from the state are Ramesh Bais (Raipur), Saroj Pandey (Durg), Chandulal Sahu (Mahasamund), Vishnudeo Sai (Raigarh), Lakhan Sahu (Bilaspur), Dinesh Kashyap (Bastar), Vikram Usendi (Kanker), Banshilal Mahto (Korba), Kamalbhan Singh (Surguja), Kamladevi Patle (Janjgir-Champa).
BJP has denied tickets to two sitting MPs, Madhusudan Yadav (Rajnandgaon) and Sohan Potai (Kanker).
Notably, Bilaspur and Surguja seats are lying vacant following the death of sitting MPs Dilip Singh Judeo and Muralilal Singh who represented the seats respectively.