RAIPUR: Kawasi Lakhma, former excise minister in the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government and an accused in the liquor scam is the Congress candidate from the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh.
Lakhma's name was among the 70 other accused in the alleged liquor scam by the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Kwasi Lakhma, a prominent tribal face who has won the Konta (Sukma, south Bastar) Assembly seat for the sixth consecutive time in 2023, has replaced the sitting Congress MP from Bastar Lok Sabha constituency and the state president Deepak Baij, as the party’s choice.
His name appeared in the fourth list, released by the Congress party on Saturday late night.
The Maoist-affected Bastar seat which consists of a pre-dominant tribal population is scheduled to go on the first phase of polls on April 19.
The ED had submitted an application last year for registering the case against Lakhma under the previous Congress regime. However, it is only now that the Chattisgarh police have lodged an FIR.
It was estimated that Proceeds of Crime of around Rs 2,161 crore have been generated by the suspects in the alleged scam.
Meanwhile, the Congress denied the charges against its party candidate and claimed that naming the former minister in the FIR is an attempt to defame the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.