Mahajan spots chhota Saddam in Jogi

Mahajan, who flew in from Mumbai this morning, first addressed the youth convention and then a closed-door session with state BJP office-bearers. He described Chhattisgarh as a ‘‘land of terror’’ where blatant misuse of power to settle scores with political opponents was common. He said development has taken a back seat here and atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis have increased manifold.

Among the four states going to polls, Chhattisgarh could set the worst example of misuse of government machinery to influence the election results, he said.

Mahajan advised senior partymen and Yuva Morcha activists to remain ‘‘extra-vigilant’’ in the next six months to keep a tab on Jogi’s movements and report any possible violation of the code of conduct to the Election Commission.

Though he dodged queries on the BJP’s election strategy in the state, Mahajan gave two broad hints. He indicated that the party will not ally with former Congress leader V.C. Shukla and will not project any single leader as the chief ministerial candidate.

‘‘For Chhattisgarh, the party will have an entirely different poll strategy. Here, conditions are much different from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. We will take no risks and let Jogi return to power,’’ Mahajan said.

He also gave reasons for the party’s rebuff to Shukla. ‘‘In Chhattisgarh, the BJP has its presence almost in every nook and corner of the state. The party had also been in power when Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh. There are few Assembly seats, which BJP lost only by a narrow margin’’ he said. Mahajan added that he would chalk out an action plan for the general elections after meeting the state BJP office-bearers.

At today’s press conference, Mahajan also asked the Congress to take the lead in supporting the proposed Bill banning political defections and the constitutional amendment to freeze the number of ministers to be inducted in the Cabinet in proportion to the strength of elected members in the Assembly.

Asked about the CBI probe which the Prime Minister has ordered on Jogi’s letter relating to the controversial IB document, Mahajan said the CM should assist in the probe to know the truth. He alleged that Jogi was evading the investigators though he had himself called for the inquiry.