Chhattisgarh People Have Lost Trust in Congress Govt, BJP Coming Back to Power: Raman Singh – News18

BJP vice-president and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said people have lost trust in the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government and exuded confidence about his party coming back to power in the state in the next month’s assembly polls.

The Election Commission (EC) on Monday announced a two-phase polling for the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly on November 7 and 17 with counting of votes set for December 3.

Talking to reporters in Raipur, Singh hit out at Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and said the people of Chhattisgarh have lost trust in him and his government. The Congress has also announced it will contest the elections under collective leadership, said the three-time former CM, suggesting the ruling party was not keen on projecting Baghel as its chief ministerial candidate.

“Earlier, the Congress gave the slogan of ‘Bhupesh Hai to Bharosa Hai’, which has now been changed to ‘Bharose Ki Sarkar’. In the last five years, the Congress government has only encouraged corruption and crime and done nothing for development of the state,” alleged the BJP leader. The people of the state are very angry with the Baghel government and eagerly waiting for the elections to vote out the Congress, Singh said.

They will surely bring about a change in the state and the BJP will be elected to power with an absolute majority, he maintained. The BJP has created an atmosphere in its favour by taking out two ‘Parivartan Yatras’ (March for Change) in the state last month, he said.

As per the poll schedule, in the first phase, polling will be held in 20 constituencies which fall in the Bastar division (12 seats) and those under the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat (8 assembly segments) on November 7. The remaining 70 seats will witness voting on November 17 in the second and last round.In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress won 68 of the total 90 seats, while the BJP finished a distant second with 15. The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), founded by former CM late Ajit Jogi, bagged five seats and its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won in two segments.

The ruling party further consolidated its hold in the state with victory in bypolls held for five assembly seats after 2018. The Congress tally currently stands at 71. The opposition BJP currently has 13 seats in the House, the JCC(J) 3 and the BSP 2 seats. One seat is currently lying vacant.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)