Late entrant in race, Jogi hops on to yatras

The Congress leaders who will attend include AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vohra, Lok Sabha member Shyama Charan Shukla and former MP Pawan Diwan (who also heads the state commission on Gau Raksha).

Only last month, the BJP had gone on a major offensive against the Jogi government, organising an 18-day Parivartan Yatra starting from three famous Hindu shrines of Mahamaya, Danteshwari and Bamleshwari at Ratanpur, Datewara and Dongargarh respectively. Two Union ministers Ramesh Bais and Dilip Singh Judeo, besides state party chief Raman Singh, had led the yatras.

It is clear Jogi is determined to clock equal Hindutva miles. While Chhattisgarh Congress chief Ramanuj Lal Yadav was supposed to release the yatra calendar to mediapersons here yesterday, Jogi dropped in unscheduled to underline the importance he attached to the programme. ‘‘We will not allow the BJP to corner the Congress just by spreading disinformation on development or lack of it. We are also ready with answers on their charges of religious conversions,’’ the CM said. ‘‘We want the people to know our work and also understand the BJP’s gameplan. It lacks leadership, has no issues and thrives on its communal card.’’

Laughing off such accusations, senior BJP leader Brij Mohan Aggarwal says Jogi is running scared because the BJP’s Parivartan Yatra had helped the party establish contact with people in the state’s entire 90 assembly constituencies. However, privately the party must be worried about Jogi becoming the second Congress CM after Digvijay Singh in MP to take them on over Hindutva.

It may not be a coincidence that all the nine yatras by Congress ministers will start the same day the BJP wraps up its three-day national executive meeting and holds a Sankalp Sabha to motivate party workers for the coming assembly elections. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani are expected to address the meeting at Raipur’s Subash Stadium on July 20. The yatras will all end on July 27 at Rattanpur — again a popular Hindu shrine.

There is another advantage that Jogi must hope to accrue from the yatras. For seven days, at least, he keeps ministers, disgruntled MLAs and Congress leaders busy with something else other than targeting him.