RAIPUR: The Patan assembly seat is finely poised to witness a striking contest between the uncle and the nephew, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Vijay Baghel
The nephew is the BJP candidate and Lok Sabha member representing the Durg constituency. The duo had contested against each other thrice—2003, 2008 and 2013. Vijay Baghel defeated Bhupesh only once in 2008 by a margin of 7,842. Vijay was in Congress till 2000. He later joined the BJP. Bhupesh has been contesting the Patan seat since 1993.
BJP manifesto committee chief Vijay Baghel is among the four MPs the Opposition has fielded for the polls. The state Congress claimed the BJP is fielded Vijay Baghel against the CM with the only intention of showcasing their “mistaken belief” that the party would steal a march in the poll battle. Vijay predicted the contest is going to be an engrossing one. “I’m grateful to my party for giving me an opportunity to be a candidate in Patan against the CM, who happens to be my relative too,” Vijay said. In the 2018 elections, BJP’s Motilal Sahu contested against Bhupesh from Patan. The constituency has around 35 per cent of Sahu population but the plan didn’t succeed.
The contest becomes interesting this time as both Baghels belong to the Kurmi community. And if the Kurmi votes get divided, then all will depend upon the choice or mood of the Sahu community to play a deciding role.In another uncle-nephew contest drawing attention is the two-time BJP MLA Saurabh Singh who is pitted against his nephew Raghvendra Singh, a new face from Congress at Akaltara seat in Janjgir-Champa district. Raghvendra is the Congress district president.
“I won the last elections when there was an apparent pro-Congress wave and BJP here secured 39 per cent votes but Congress got just 17 per cent. This time there is strong anti-incumbency with ground situation against the Congress,” Saurabh Singh told this newspaper. However, Raghvendra countered that it doesn’t matter to him since most of the candidates launch themselves in the poll fray contesting for the first time.
“It’s the people and the party workers who decide”, he added. The region also has supporters of Bahujan Samaj Party. The polling to the 90-member Chhattisgarh House will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17.
The Congress striving for the second term has declared 83 candidates while the BJP has released the lists of 85 names. Meanwhile, the political experts believe that the Chhattisgarh might feel the politics of polarisation in a run up to the elections, even as Baghel government was seen as consistent not to let the arch rival BJP gain an advantage on religious politics. “Bhupesh government and Congress party in Chhattisgarh worked hard to project themselves as the sole campaigner of Hindutva in the state. But unlike the BJP’s hindutva agenda that instill polarisation, the Congress campaign doesn’t look communal,” said Sunil Kumar, senior editor.
Sahu votes may play a key role
The contest becomes more interesting as both Baghels belong to the Kurmi community. And if the Kurmi votes get divided, then all will depend upon the choice of the Sahu community who account for 35 per cent of the population in Patan. The duo had contested against each other thrice. Vijay defeated Bhupesh only once in 2008 by a margin of 7,842.