In Kanker, Cong hopes to reverse narrow loss to BJP

WHILE THE BJP won the 2023 Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, the Congress won five of the eight Assembly segments falling under the ST- reserved Kanker Lok Sabha seat in the Bastar region. Its overall votes across the segments were also higher than in 2019, when it lost the Kanker seat narrowly.

This is giving the party hope of wresting back the seat, which votes on April 26, and which used to be its bastion between 1980 and 1998. Since then, the BJP has never lost it.

There is another change. Kanker, which has always seen bipolar contests, will have a third contestant this year. Former MP Arvind Netam, who now heads his own tribal party, Hamar Raj, has fielded Vinod Nagvanshi.

Nagvanshi says: "Neither the Congress nor the BJP is speaking on tribal issues. Kanker needs a major hospital, good higher education institutions. There are six mines here, but no technical institutes to help locals get jobs .”

The tribal- dominated Kanker district, jutting into Maharashtra, is dry, hilly and impoverished, though agriculture remains its biggest profession. Among the top demands of residents are a bypass road for the arterial Keshkal Valley road to Bastar, tap water supply to villages, and a railway line connecting Kanker to Dhamtari.

"The biggest issue in several villages is the lack of tap water. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, elevated water tanks have been erected and pipes have been laid, but where is the water?" asks Roshan Zamir, Nagar Panchayat chairperson for Keshkal.

The BJP is banking on its call for "protection of Sanatan Dharma" to override voter concerns. "Sanatan ki raksha karna hai, Bhojraj ko jeetana hai ( To protect Sanatan, make Bhojraj victorious)" is one of its slogans here.

The party has fielded Bhojraj Nag from Kanker, replacing sitting MP Mohan Mandavi. Nag is a priest, grassroots activist and former MLA. Known for his controversial statements, he has been the party’s face in Bastar in its campaign against alleged conversions of tribals.

The Congress has given a second chance to Biresh Thakur, 55, who lost the 2019 elections to Mandavi by 6,914 votes. Thakur says the BJP'S Mandavi did nothing. "To even get the people electricity, we need the Central government's permission. They have no road or bridge. At one place in Bhanupratappur, we need a water reservoir. Since Nehruji's era, no new reservoir has been built for the locals there."

Nag dismisses the challenge of Thakur, saying no candidate can withstand “Modiji’s tsunami”.

PTI BSP chief Mayawati being greeted by her supporters as she arrives in her chopper for a meeting at Aligrah in Uttar Pradesh.