Both sides forget past so it’s Jogi vs Shukla

Whatever the result of this election battle, neither side will be short of muck to heap on each other.This became evident soon after Jogi’s candidature was announced for a seat that was last won by Congressman Shyama Charan, V C Shukla’s elder brother. Shukla senior decided not to seek re-election from there to avoid a family confrontation.

Jogi immediately ridiculed V C Shukla, a seven-time winner from Mahasamund who has been part of several different political parties. ‘‘If someone keeps changing parties and still thinks people will elect him because of his victory record, he lives in a fool’s paradise,’’ smirked Jogi, as he checked out the poll terrain.

Shukla, himself, seemed battle-ready as he told reporters: ‘‘Who is afraid of Jogi? I fought his corruption and goondagardi when he was chief minister and got him ousted.’’

And summing up the likely tenor of the campaign, senior BJP leader Brij Mohan Aggarwal added: ‘‘We are happy to hear that a man accused of corruption is Sonia Gandhi’s candidate. The Congress has given us an election issue.’’

It remains to be seen whether the voters’ memories are as short as the parties’. Four months back, after Jogi was suspended following the tape scandal for ‘‘violating party disciple’’, he rushed to Delhi only to spend lonely hours at Chattisgarh Bhawan while senior party leader shunned him.

Taking a stern stand, AICC general secretary Ambika Soni had then said: ‘‘Till the time there is an inquiry into the veracity of the tape, Jogi has been suspended from the party.’’

The same Soni today reasoned: ‘‘It has never been proved that the tapes were genuine. The inquiry has been on for the last so many months.’’ She added that Jogi had not ‘‘deliberately’’ intended to violate party discipline and had expressed his regret for acting without consulting the AICC.

Jogi’s men had put up an impressive show of support for their leader during Sonia Gandhi’s recent visit to Chhattisgarh, and obviously convinced the Congress leader that he was the only one who could make Shukla sweat for the seat.

While the Congress leadership took some pains to explain their rediscovered affection for Jogi, the BJP, who has co-opted Shukla some 30 years after L K Advani compared his Emergency propaganda to Hitler’s, saw no such need to defend their new hope from Mahasamund.