Raipur:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday promised free education in government schools and colleges in Chhattisgarh and Rs 4,000 a year for ‘tendu’ leaf collectors if his party retains power in the state.

Addressing an election rally in the Bhanupratappur assembly constituency in Kanker district, Mr Gandhi asked that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi brings up ‘OBC’ (other backward classes) in his speeches, why was he scared of a caste census.

A caste census will be conducted in the country if the Congress is voted to power, he added.

Bhanupratappur is among the 20 constituencies that will see polling on November 7 in the first phase of the Chhattisgarh elections. The second phase will be held on November 17.

“We are going to take a major step for you which we call ‘KG to PG’. From KG (kindergarten) to PG (post-graduation), free education will be provided in government institutions to students (if Congress retains power in state). They will not have to pay a single penny,” Mr Gandhi said.

Mr Gandhi promised that if the Congress forms the government in the state after polls, tendu leaf collectors will be given Rs 4,000 per year under the Rajiv Gandhi Protsahan Yojana. This is being seen as a major announcement from the Bhanupratappur seat, which is a part of the tribal-dominated Bastar region.

Pitching for a caste census, he said, “Narendra Modi ji uses the ‘OBC’ word in every speech but why is he scared of the caste census… OBCs have to become aware as they are being ditched.” Mr Gandhi also announced that the Congress would conduct a caste census in the country if it is voted to power in Delhi (at the Centre). “We have already made this promise for Chhattisgarh,” he said.

Key promises made by the Congress ahead of the last assembly polls have been fulfilled in Chhattisgarh, Mr Gandhi claimed. 

Objecting to the use of ‘vanvasi’ in place of ‘Adivasi’ for tribals, he said its use by the BJP is an insult to Adivasis and an attack on their culture, history and language.

During his speech, Mr Gandhi stopped briefly and walked to the other corner of the stage carrying a bottle of water apparently after someone fainted on the ground. He returned to the dais and asked if the person was alright. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Raipur:

Former chief minister Ajit Jogi-founded Janta Congress Chhattisgarh(J) on Wednesday released its second list of 11 candidates for the second phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections next month.

With this list, the party has announced candidates for 27 out of the total 90 seats in the state so far.

Of the 11 seats, one each was reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) categories.

Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly will be held in two phases – on November 7 and 17, while the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3 along with four other states.

Late Ajit Jogi’s wife and sitting MLA Renu Jogi has been fielded from Kota seat while her daughter-in-law Richa Jogi will contest from the Akaltara seat.

Renu Jogi has won the Kota seat thrice on a Congress ticket (2006-bypoll, 2008 and 2013) and once as JCC(J) candidate in 2018. She had quit Congress ahead of the last assembly elections and joined her husband’s party.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Prabal Pratap Singh Judev, son of late BJP stalwart Dilip Singh Judev, from Kota where Congress’ nominee is Atal Shrivastav, chairman of the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board.

Richa Jogi, wife of Amit Jogi (Ajit Jogi’s only son), had unsuccessfully contested from Akaltara on JCC(J) ticket in the last elections.

JCC(J) has fielded former MLA R K Rai from Gunderdehi seat. Mr Rai had joined JCC (J) after quitting the Congress and unsuccessfully contested from Gunderdehi in 2018.

The other JCC (J) candidates on the list are Jaglal Singh Dehati (Premnagar seat), Chhatrapal Singh Kanwar (Pali-Tanakhar – ST), Akhilesh Pandey (Bilaspur), Chandni Bhardwaj (Masturi – SC), Tekchand Chandra (Jaijaipur), Baba Manharan Gurusai (Kasdol), Manoj Banjare (Raipur rural) and Jaheer Khan (Bhilai Nagar). Three women candidates feature in this list.

The JCC(J) had contested the last elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the coalition had emerged as a third front, winning seven seats. But this time the JCC(J) struggling to remain politically relevant in the binary politics dominated by the Congress and BJP.

In an interview to PTI, Amit Jogi had said his party was reaching out to the Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) and the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) for an alliance. However, the party has so far not entered into an alliance with any outfit.

The Mayawati-led BSP has entered into an alliance with the GGP.

The JCC (J) had been virtually in crisis after the death of Ajit Jogi in 2020. Ajit Jogi, who headed the Congress government in the state from 2000 to 2003, floated JCC (J) in 2016 after parting ways with the Congress and contested the 2018 assembly polls in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Though JCC (J) could not influence the poll outcome but succeeded in making inroads into the state politics, traditionally dominated by the BJP and Congress.

In the 2018 polls, which saw Congress returning to power after a long gap, the party won 68 of the total 90 seats, while the BJP finished a distant second at 15. The JCC(J) bagged five segments and its ally BSP 2.

The JCC(J)’s vote share was 7.6 per cent as it won five seats, hailed as the first-ever significant performance of a regional party in Chhattisgarh. However, after Ajit Jogi’s death in May 2020, Jogi junior is struggling to keep the JCC(J) flock together.

The JCC(J) lost two assembly segments – Marwahi and Khairagarh – in the bypolls held after the death of incumbent MLAs Ajit Jogi and Devvrat Singh. Two other MLAs of JCC(J) Dharmjeet Singh and Pramod Sharma – were expelled from the party, leaving the party with Renu Jogi as the lone legislator.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Raipur:

 Accusing the BJP-led government at the centre of misusing its power as well as central agencies, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday alleged that the central government will immediately take action against him on getting an opportunity.

CM Bhupesh Baghel said, “They are not getting any chance (to arrest me); otherwise, are they going to leave me? They are misusing their powers.”

CM Baghel expressed this while speaking exclusively with ANI in Raipur on Friday in response to a question about whether he feels that ED would arrest him as the central agency had held bureaucrats and raided the addresses of people close to him.

Dubbing the action carried out by the ED in the recent past as a part of the conspiracy, the CM said that they (BJP) do not have any programmes or schemes to attract the public, so they are constantly trying to defame the state government.

“They (referring to the opposition BJP in the state) are no longer capable of fighting. Being in power for 15 years, they got used to availing themselves of the benefits of privileges and are now not in the state to fight. Therefore, they are indulging in defaming the government and yet to prove anything,” said the CM.

Terming the raids carried out by the central agency in Chhattisgarh on rice millers (on Friday) as a move to impact the paddy procurement drive, which is scheduled to commence from November 1, the CM said the action was done to defame the Chhattisgarh government.

“They have stooped so low to gain power that they are not even thinking about the financial loss of farmers,” said the CM.

The Election Commission has announced that the first phase of polling for 20 seats in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 7, and the remaining 70 seats in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on November 17.

Polls will be held in Mizoram on November 7, Chhattisgarh on November 7 and November 17, Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 25 and Telangana on November 30.

The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all the states. Of the five states, polling in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases.

The Model Code of Conduct has come into force with the announcement of poll dates. The elections to five states are crucial as they are being held months before the Lok Sabha elections in April-May next year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)