PM Modi back in Chhattisgarh today, back-to-back visits ahead as BJP steps up campaign

Of Chhattisgarh’s five administrative divisions – Raipur, Durg, Surguja, Bilaspur and Bastar – Bilaspur has the highest number of Assembly seats at 24.

There are several reasons behind Modi making a second visit to the division in quick succession, having last been here on September 14 to Raigarh district.

First, Bilaspur’s mixed population of OBCs, SCs and STs aligns with the BJP’s priority targets this election. The SCs and STs in the state have traditionally voted for the Congress.

Second, even in the 2018 Assembly elections when the BJP had been routed, winning 15 seats in total, out of 90, against the Congress’s 68, the Bilaspur Lok Sabha segment had been an exception. Here, the BJP had retained four of the five Assembly segments it had won in 2013, out of the total eight. The Congress, in comparison, had gone down from three seats in 2013 to one in 2018.

Bilaspur had again reposed faith in the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with the seat part of the party’s sweep of 9 of Chhattisgarh’s total 11 constituencies.

A major reason for the Congress’s poor performance in Bilaspur in 2018 was the presence in the race of the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh-Jogi (JCC-J), a party floated by Ajit Jogi, who was the first chief minister of the state and former Congress leader. In the 2018 election, the late Jogi’s wife, Renu, switched from the Congress to the JCC-J and retained her Kota seat. Similarly, Dharamjeet Singh, the Congress’s losing candidate from Lormi in 2013, contested on a JCC-J ticket in 2018 and won.

The JCC-J was also a factor in the Congress’s loss in Bilha, Beltara and Mungeli seats.

This time, apart from the JCC-J, a new party launched by the Sarva Adivasi Samaj, the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, the BSP, the Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party, are also in the race, which could hurt both the BJP and Congress.

The eight Assembly segments falling under the Bilaspur Lok Sabha constituency are Kota, Lormi, Mungeli, Takhatpur, Bilha, Bilaspur, Beltara and Mastur.

Modi’s visit comes days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting in Bilaspur, where he took on the PM, saying while the Congress uses its “remote control” to give benefits to the poor, he used his to “help Adani”.

Modi’s Chhattisgarh meetings have seen similar corruption attacks on the Bhupesh Baghel-led state Congress government, specifically related to its flagship welfare schemes and the Enforcement Directorate probes over coal levy and liquor sale cases.

After his Jagdalpur visit on October 3, Modi is expected to hold rallies in major cities of Surguja and Durg divisions, such as Ambikapur and Rajnandgaon.