Unemployment vs growth debate in Chhattisgarh
RAIPUR: Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh this year will be a test of popularity for chief minister Raman Singh, who has been ruling the state for 15 years.
The Congress, led by its president Rahul Gandhi, is eyeing to wrest power in the state where the difference of votes secured by it and the Bharatiya Janata Party was less than one percentage point five years ago.
Hoping to make this year’s elections a three-way contest, former Congress chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress Chhattisgarh has joined forces with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which got five per cent of the votes polled in 2013.
Both Ajit Jogi and Mayawati have a support base among Dalits, and their front might hurt the chances of the Congress, whose talks on seat-sharing with the Bahujan Samaja Party have collapsed. But the Congress believes that Jogi’s exit — he quit in 2016 — will help the party win back the support of upper castes, who are traditional voters of the BJP.
“The Ajit Jogi-mayawati alliance will have no impact in Chhattisgarh,” said Congress strategist Vinod Verma.
Ashok Tomar, a political commentator in Raipur, said, “It will be a close fight between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party. The impact of Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party will not be on more than a dozen of seats in north Chhattisgarh. I also believe that the voting pattern this time will not be on expected lines and whosoever is the winner will secure a handsome margin and vote share.”
Elections in the state will be held in two phases. Eighteen assembly seats in Maoist-affected districts will go to polls on November 12. In the second phase, electorate in 72 seats will vote on November 20.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The Congress is raising the issue of jobs, saying that there about five million unemployed people in the state. The BJP says it has worked towards generating jobs.
DEVELOPMENT
Chief minister Raman Singh has been speaking about the roads and bridges his government has constructed, and says nothing was done in the Congress’s rule. He is also stressing reforms in the public distribution system. The CM has begun the distribution of five million mobile phones to people.
MAIN PLAYERS
After 15 years in power, chief minister Raman Singh is a trusted face among many sections. Singh launched various schemes a few months before the elections to woo tribals, youngsters and women. The most important is the SKY scheme, which aims to distribute 5 million smartphones.
State Congress chief, Bupesh Baghel is the party’s OBC face, where the community accounts for 47 percent of the population. The party has been counting on him to galvanise Congress workers ahead of the polls.
An alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party is likely to bolster Ajit Jogi . Ajit Jogi’s son Amit Jogi is spearheading the campaign.
The December 7 polls to the Telangana assembly will be an acid test for chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who came to power in 2014 as the lone champion of the Telangana cause.
Since then, KCR -- as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo is popularly known – has dominated the political arena. Though the TRS got a wafer-thin majority in 2014 with just 63 of 119 assembly seats, he managed to engineer defections from opposition parties and increase its strength to 90.
KCR implemented his agenda of rebuilding a new Telangana and started schemes in the irrigation, agriculture, education and infrastructure sectors. He surprised everybody by dissolving the assembly on September 6, almost nine months before its term ends. He blamed the dissolution on the opposition parties making corruption allegations against his government.
Though almost absent for the last four years, the Congress appears to have resurrected itself in the past year by holding rallies against the government. But it cannot take on KCR alone. So, it has mooted a grand alliance with other opposition parties. As of now, the Telugu Desam Party, the CPI and the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) have signed up.
The BJP is facing an identity crisis, besides the suspicion of having a secret understanding with the TRS. Similarly, the All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen is confined to the old city and has a friendly relationship with the TRS.
Political columnist and author Sriram Karri said it is going to be KCR on one side and the entire opposition on the other.
DEVELOPMENT
The TRS is banking on several social schemes and irrigation projects to return to power, including money before sowing of crops called Rythu Bima, Kalyan Lakshmi, Shadi Mubarak. The Opposition has accused him of failure to fulfil the promises.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The Opposition has said that the KCR regime has failed to provide employment to youth. KCR has countered this, saying infrastructure development has created thousands of jobs.
LAND REFORM
The TRS government had started a programme to provide three acres to three lakh landless Dalit families. But land has been provided to about 5,000 families only. The Opposition says the scheme is a failure but the government claims it is a work in progress.
MAIN PLAYERS
The only star campaigner for the TRS, KCR draws crowds with speeches attacking the Opposition in Telangana slang.
Pradesh Congress Committee president, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who is leading the Opposition campaign is not a great orator but makes his point effectively .
PCC working president, A Revanth Reddy, who is a powerful speaker, has been tearing into KCR and his family, exposing alleged corruption.
TJS head M Kodandaram, a former Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman, is another key player. He spearheaded the movement for a separate Telangana and has a following among the youth and farmers.