India Today – October 08, 2018

ssembly elections in Chhattis-

garh have always been a close

fight. In the 2003 elections, the

diference in vote share between

the BJP and Congress was 2.55

per cent. In 2013, it shrank to

0.75 per cent. This election, the

surprise announcement of an alliance between

the BSP and former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s

Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) has muddied

the waters further. What does the new political

alignment mean for the parties in Chhattisgarh,

where Raman Singh, the longest-serving BJP chief

minister in the country, is trying to secure a fourth

successive term?

That the Congress had been negotiating an

alliance with the BSP was an open secret. The BJP,

too, was following the developments closely as it

holds nine of the 10 seats reserved for Scheduled

Castes in the 90-member assembly. Giving details

of the tie-up in Lucknow—35 seats for the BSP

ASSEMBLY POLLS |^ CHHATTISGARH |

A

By Rahul Noronha

WILL JOGI

QUEER THE

PITCH?

THE TACTICAL BSPJCC ALLIANCE

COULD TURN THE BJPCONGRESS

BATTLE IN CHHATTISGARH INTO

A THREECORNERED CONTEST

HIGH STAKES

Raman Singh during the

Atal Vikas Yatra in

Korba district

Photo by VINAY SHARMA