 "Ajit Jogi, Chhatisgarh")
Chhattisgarh first chief minister and heavyweight Congress leader Ajit Jogi on Tuesday formally launched his new regional party in the state.
“Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (Jogi) will be the name of the new party,” Jogi announced at a much awaited public meeting held in Thathapur village of Kawardha district on Tuesday evening. Thathapur---about 150 kms from here---happens to be the native village of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.
By launching his new party from Singh’s home turf, Jogi had sent an overt signal that his fight would be against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. While the former chief minister made it clear that the ruling party would be his target, Congress ironically continued to engage in fighting Jogi.
The Congress on Tuesday organized a regional convention in Marwahi, the native place of Ajit Jogi in Bilaspur district, as part of show-of-strength. The leaders targeted Jogi’s party and said it would fail to win a single seat in Chhattisgarh state polls.
But Jogi was least bothered of “under-estimating” his new political outfit. He announced the agenda of his party that matched somewhat to the election manifesto of the Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (Jogi) though more than two years are still left when the state would go to the polls.
“If my party comes to the power in the state, it will exempt Rs 8,000 crore sales tax besides providing Rs 8,000 crore to the farmers and Rs 200 per day to the labourers,” Jogi said in the meeting that was skipped by party legislators including his wife Renu.
He added that the size of state’s budget would be Rs 1,00,000 crore. The decision about fixing the minimum support price for paddy would be taken by the state government, he said.
