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| An enemy's enemy is your friend.' There is nothing that translates this dictum better than the muddled political situation in Chhattisgarh. |
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| This is the single most important motivating factor for the Baratiya Janata Party (BJP) to warm up to VC Shukla, an arch-rival of Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and the only leader of Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the state. |
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| The Shukla clan has its own support bases because of the family's long association with the region's politics. It is another matter that Shukla was in the erstwhile Janata Party's list of villains during the Emergency. |
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| He was the infamous information and broadcasting minister responsible for imposing press censorship, and possibly responsible for LK Advani's arrest in 1975. |
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| In the present scenario, Shukla nurses only one ambition: the defeat of Jogi by any means. Such an ambition suits the BJP. |
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| Indications are Hindutva forces have entered into a tacit 'strategic alliance' with Shukla's NCP, at least on 20-odd seats to work against the Congress. |
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| There are many instances when the NCP and the BJP have combined to protest against the Congress in this district. |
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| Under this alliance, the NCP and the BJP will compliment each other's efforts to ensure Jogi's defeat. |
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| "In 10-odd seats where the NCP candidates are weak, they will work for the BJP candidates, and we will reciprocate in the same way in the NCP strongholds" explained a senior BJP leader. |
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| In the Rajim Assembly seat in this district, where Amitesh Shukla, Shyama Charan Shukla's son and VC Shukla's nephew, is contesting on the Congress ticket, the NCP has virtually allowed the BJP to have a free run. |
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| But the BJP's strategic alliances have been effectively neutralised by Ajit Jogi, who has won over Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to marginalise Hindutva forces. |
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| In fact, Jogi's major worry emanates from the fact that the BJP has given a large chunk of tickets to the OBCs, a dominant section comprising almost 50 per cent of the electorate. |
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| The pro-backward plank of the BJP's is a concern for Jogi, who has been trying to win over the tribals and the scheduled castes by referring to his own family background. |
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| Senior Congress leaders concede that Jogi played a crucial role in the ticket distribution to BSP candidates in certain key constituencies. |
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| The BSP has put up candidates from the castes, which can erode the BJP's base in the constituencies, dominated by the OBCs and scheduled castes. |
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| Punit Ram Sahu, an ex-BJP legislator from Rajim, said the BSP and the NCP were really playing spoilsport for Congress and BJP candidates. |
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| While the Dilip Singh Judeo episode had apparently demoralised the BJP cadre, the BJP has discovered Jogi's antecedents as district collector of Raipur as a reference point to highlight his misdeeds. |
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| During a drive from Raipur to Dhamtari, villagers at every bus stop knew about Jogi's penchant for pursuing anti-people programmes during his tenure as district collector. |
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| "He was the most disliked district magistrate," confirmed a small group of villagers sitting near Borsi village. |
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| That the BJP leadership is harping on an anti-Jogi campaign is also indicative of the fact that there is hardly any issue that can capture people's imagination. |
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| But there is little impact of such tricks on the electorate, which appears to have made up its mind about the choices. |
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