Chhattisgarh polls: BJP chants NaMo mantra to target young voters

Raipur, October 21

While BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (NaMo) and Congress scion Rahul Gandhi (RaGa) want to tap young voters in ensuing assembly polls in five states as well as in 2014 general elections for their parties by promising to put more number of youth in the battlefield, the former seems taking edge over the latter in terms of keeping word as is obvious from BJP’s much-awaited first list of poll candidates in Chhattisgarh where 34 out of 67 are young.

Before appearing with final names in its first list, the state BJP did ample exercise on each seat and considered every aspect from experienced candidate to youth to social engineering to caste factor.

This is the reason, the party decided not to frustrate its ministers. However, as anticipated, it took bold decision and replaced ten of its sitting MLAs with young ones. In the first installment, the party has given chance to 20 new faces. Meanwhile, the party did not forget tingeing caste hue in its diversified list and featured 23 ST, nine SC and 17 OBC candidates. The names of six women in the list, nonetheless, confirm that BJP is not a staunch support of raising women’s quota in Vidhan Sabhas and parliament.

The BJP also failed to prove itself as a party with difference as it followed the bandwagon and picked candidates pleasing some and annoying others instead of evolving consensus of the majority. Eventually, it is drawing flak from disgruntled ticket aspirants including ten sitting MLAs who have been dumped.

Immediately after announcement of the first list, sizable chunk of the frustrated lot indicate of rebelling from the party and contesting polls as an independent candidate.

However, the BJP’s first strategic list is said to have flummoxed principal opposition Congress which will now be under psychological pressure while releasing its subsequent list of candidates. The Congress has already announced 18 candidates and is yet to finalize names for 72 seats. On the other hand, the BJP’s second list of remaining 23 candidates might come in next couple of days.

The young and new lot that appeared in the first list of BJP include Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, Manendragarh; Rajsharan Bhagat, Jashpur (ST); Rohit Sai, Kunkuri (ST); Shivshankar Sai, Paththalgaon (ST); Suneeti Rathiya, Lailunga (ST); Kerabai Manhar, Sarangarh (SC); Jogesh Lamba, Korba; Lakhan Dewangan, Kathghora; Kashi Sahu, Kota; Tokhan Sahu, Lormi; Dinesh Singh, Akaltara; Khilawan Sahu, Sakti; Ramlal Chouhan, Saraipali (SC); Roopkumari Choudhary, Basna; Srichand Sundrani, Raipur City North, Sanwalram Dahire, Ahiwara (SC); Sarojini Banjare, Dongargarh (SC);  Dinesh Gandhi, Dongargaon; Vijay Sahu, Khujji; Bhojesh Shah, Mohla-Manpur (ST); Satish Lathiya, Bhanupratappur (ST); Sanjay Kadopi, Kanker (ST), Dhaniram Barse, Konta (ST), Gowardhan Majhi, Bindranawagar (ST); Pritam Sahu, Sanjari-Balod; Raju Singh Kshatriya, Takhatpur; Yuddhveer Singh Judev, Chandrapur; Laxmi Baghel, Balodabazar; Lata Usendi, Kondagaon (ST); Kedar Kashyap, Narayanpur (ST); Baiduram Kashyap, Chitrakot (ST); Bhima Mandavi, Dantewada (ST); Mahesh Gagda, Bijapur (ST) and Anurag Singhdeo, Ambikapur;

The other candidates who feature in the list are Bhiyalal Rajwade, Baikunthpur; Ramsewak Paikra, Pratappur (ST); Ramvichar Netam, Ramanujganj (ST); Siddhnath Paikra, Samri (ST); Nankiram Kanwar, Rampur (ST); Punnulal Mohle, Mungeli (SC); Dharamlal Kaushik, Bilha; Amar Agrawal, Bilaspur; Raman Singh, Rajnandgaon; Badridhar Diwan, Beltara; Dr Krishnamurthy Bandhi, Masturi (SC); Dr Sanam Jangde, Bilaigarh (SC); Gaurishankar Agrawal, Kasdol; Devjibhai Patel, Dharsiva; Nande Sahu, Raipur Rural; Brijmohan Agrawal, Raipur City South; Rajesh Munat, Raipur City West; Chandrashekhar Sahu, Abhanpur; Ajay Chadrakar, Kurud; Vijay Baghel, Patan; Hemchand Yadav, Durg City; Premprakash Pandey, Bhilai Nagar; Dayaldas Baghel, Nawagarh (SC); Komal Janghel, Khairagarh; Vikram Usendi, Antagarh (ST); Sewak Ram Netam, Keshkal (ST), Subhau Kashyap, Bastar (ST), Santosh Bafna, Jagdalpur, Vijaynath Singh, Lundra; Ambesh Jangde, Pamgarh (SC); Omprakash Rathiya, Dharamjaigarh (ST) and Labhchand Bafna, Saja.