Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The year 2023 is going to be crucial for both the ruling Congress and the principal Opposition BJP in Chhattisgarh as the state is bound for Assembly elections due in November.
Led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the Congress has launched an all-out bid to return to power, looking to take advantage of its arch rival BJP’s perceived weakness of lacking a key leadership face following the ouster of the Raman Singh-led party government after a 15-year tenure in 2018.
The political temperature has already started heating up in the state, whose politics has always been a two-party affair between the Congress and the saffron party. The latest round of slugfest between them has been sparked by the ongoing tug of war between CM Baghel and Governor Anusiya Uikey over the two quota Bills passed by the government in the Assembly on December 2, which provide for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions in proportion to the population of different caste categories, taking the total reservation in the tribal state to 76 per cent.
As per these Bills, the Scheduled Tribes (STs) will get a quota of 32 per cent, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) 27 per cent, Scheduled Castes (SCs) 13 per cent and the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) 4 per cent.
However, Uikey has refused to give her assent to the Bills so far, with the issue set to snowball into a major conflict between the Congress and the BJP in the run-up to the Assembly polls. The tribal politics is also likely to play out intensely in this row.
To drum up public support for its quota Bills and step up pressure on the Governor, the Congress is going to organise a “Maha (mega) rally” in Raipur on January 3.
Both the Congress and the BJP are expected to switch to the poll mode from January. The new All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Chhattisgarh, Kumari Selja, recently visited Raipur to take stock of the party’s preparations and draw up an action plan for the polls.
On January 26, the Congress will kick off its “Haath se haath jodo yatra (join hands march)”, with its leaders and rank and file aiming to reach out to voters in every booth across the state.
The Chhattisgarh BJP will also hold a meeting in January to work out its roadmap and strategies for the polls. The BJP’s central leaders would join the state party leaders in this exercise.
As regards the Naxalites’ influence in the state, the security forces and police managed to curb their activities in 2022, resulting in a dip in the Maoist-related incidents as compared to 2021. However, in an election year, their activities are expected to rise again.
There is also the possibility in the new year of some intra-Congress developments relating to the rift between CM Baghel and senior minister TS Singh Deo, whose chasm has only widened over the last few years. They have disagreed with each other regularly over various issues, with their
long-running rivalry linked to a purported rotational CM post pact struck
between them in the presence of the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi after the party stormed to power in the December 2018 Assembly polls. Baghel has, however, repeatedly denied any such pact.
