Chhattisgarh: Ajit Jogi to contest elections from Marwahi

Chhattisgarh Janata Congress has also nominated at least four candidates who fought the last election on the Congress ticket. RK Rai from Gunderdehi and Siyaram Kaushik from Bilha, both MLA's, and Dharamjeet Singh from Lormi have backed the Jogi's since the split.

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In a list declared on October 30, the CJC has now officially declared Jogi as the Marwahi candidate.

The Chhattisgarh Janata Congress has declared its party chief Ajit Jogi, Chhattisgarh’s first Chief Minister as the party’s candidate from the Marwahi constituency. Jogi had earlier declared that he would fight the elections against Chief Minister Raman Singh, but in a decision that drew much flak from the Congress, withdrew claiming that members of the CJC-BSP-CPI coalition had asked him to campaign for them across the state instead of concentrating on one seat.

At the time, Jogi had unilaterally declared on October 20 that he would not fight the elections at all. A day later, the party led by his son and present Marwahi MLA Amit Jogi had said that the “people of Marwahi” wanted him to contest, that he would not even need to campaign for him to win. In a list declared on October 30, the CJC has now officially declared Jogi as the Marwahi candidate.

Interestingly, the CJC list has still not announced a candidate for the Kota seat, which the Congress has held for decades. The present Congress candidate from the seat is Ajit Jogi’s wife Renu Jogi who is still officially part of the Congress and has asked for a ticket. Source within the CJC said they are still waiting to see if Renu Jogi is given a ticket from the Congress though that seems unlikely. While Ajit Jogi and son Amit Jogi quit the Congress in early 2016, Renu Jogi continued to remain in the party as an MLA. Interestingly, Amit Jogi’s wife Richa Jogi is contesting the elections on a BSP ticket from Akaltara. There has been no official announcement on whether Amit Jogi is contesting the elections so far with final day for filing of nomination on November 2.

The CJC has also nominated at least four candidates who fought the last election on the Congress ticket. RK Rai from Gunderdehi and Siyaram Kaushik from Bilha, both MLA’s, and Dharamjeet Singh from Lormi have backed the Jogi’s since the split. Additionally, Congress candidates that lost closely in the last election but werent given a ticket from the Congress like Paresh Bagbahara and Chaitram Sahu. from Khallari and Bhatapara have also been given tickets from the CJC, queering the pitch in these elections.

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