CoNGress seeKs Votes iN VAJPAyee’s NAme

The Congress has fielded late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece, Karuna Shukla against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon Assembly constituency in the state elections. Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh is the sitting MP from Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency. The six Assembly seats under Rajnandgaon district will go to polls Monday, 12 November. With Congress trying to make Vajpayee its mascot in this seat, CM Raman Singh told this newspaper, that “the BJP and Vajpayeeji are synonymous.” Shukla on the other hand told this paper that the state government was “poles apart” from the ideology of her uncle. In her opinion, the BJP had changed its “chaal, charitra aur chehra (ways, character and face)”. “Atalji’s teachings and courage are in my blood.” Shukla alleged that the CM ignored his home constituency and no development had taken place there. “It is a sorry state of affairs in Rajnandgaon,” she said. “There is a scarcity of water. Corruption is thriving.” However, local BJP leaders said Shukla was “an outsider” and stood no chance of denting the CM’s clean image.