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Journalism of Courage
BETUL, Feb 21: The police firing, which killed 19 farmers agitating for compensation at Multai last month seems to have lost much of its relevance in the caste combinations of the candidates in this constituency. The Congress has put forward Dr Ashok Samble, MLA from Betul, who belongs to the Kunbi caste having a substantial number of voters in the Lok Sabha constituency.
Ashok Samble is identified with the farming community. Moreover, he is humility incarnate. He is capable of touching the feet of 3,000 persons a day. According to a government officer, when Samble received the news of Congress ticket having been given to him, he immediately touched the feet of a Tehsildar and a police inspector, who were present there.
An intriguing aspect of the election in this Constituency is the candidature of Tanti Chaudhary. He was Chairmanof the Kisan Sangharsh Morcha, which had organised the agitation for compensation. The farmers of the 150-odd villages had decided to boycott the election in protest against the police firing and the government’s apathy to their demands. Then one fine day, Tanti Chaudhary filed his nomination papers as an independent.
Many here feel that Tanti Chaudhary has been inspired to contest by the Congress to create confusion among the farmers.
Two assembly segments (Timarni and Harda) of Betul Lok Sabha constituency are in Hoshangabad district where Samble is not considered a “local”. Both the constituencies have BJP members in the Assembly.It is generally felt here that if Ashok Samble is able to sway Timarni and Harda in his favour, he may scrape through. If not, the BJP candidate will again have the seat, though with much reduced margin. He had won in 1996 by a margin of over 1.12 lakh votes.
