Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh had been the face of BJP in the recently concluded Assembly election in Chhattisgarh. But can he deliver this time? The question has become a major poll plank in the Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh.
The ayurveda doctor-turned-politician’s clean image propelled the BJP to present “Brand Raman” in the November Assembly elections. It worked and the party secured absolute majority by bagging 50 seats in the House of 90.
Though L K Advani is the party’s face in the Lok Sabha elections, in Chhattisgarh, the party’s poll managers are banking on Singh to work the magic again. However, it will be a real acid test for the Chhattisgarh chief minister this time.
“The Brand Raman worked for the BJP in the state polls and now it is for him to prove again that he (Raman Singh) really enjoyed the mass support,” said Congress General Secretary Ramesh Varlyani. If he fails, it can be established that BJP won the state polls by a stroke of luck, he added.
Raman Singh is however confident that he will deliver in the Lok Sabha elections. “The party’s performance will improve this time,” he said, adding that BJP would win all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh. In the last election, BJP had won 10. But it later lost one in the by-election.
The popular Rs 3 a kg rice scheme of Raman Singh that helped the party in the assembly elections has been “hijacked”. The Congress party in its election manifesto has promised that it would enact a law to provide 25 kg of rice or wheat a month at Rs 3 per kg to families living below the poverty line (BPL)—a scheme that Raman Singh introduced in the state before the state poll.
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With major issues missing in this election, its personality and not the party that is going to clash in the Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh. Most of the big guns in the BJP are in the fray and the bigger challenge for Raman Singh is to ensure that they get into the Parliament.
BJP stalwart Dilip Singh Judeo is contesting election from Bilaspur. And to give him a tough fight, Congress has fielded former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s wife Renu against him. The political bitterness between Judeo and Jogi is well known in state politics and the BJP is pulling out all stops to keep Jogi’s political fate hanging.
Similarly, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla is seeking the mandate from Korba. Congress has pitted its former state President Charandas Mahant making the election a big fight. In Raipur, the clash is between former union minister Ramesh Bais and former deputy leader of opposition in state Assembly Bhupesh Baghel while in Raigarh BJP State President Vishnudeo Sai is trying his luck.
What worries Raman Singh is that if the party’s stalwarts failed to perform, it will be he who has to answer. For, the BJP in Chhattisgarh is banking on the performance of his government to compare the failure of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre.