BJP, Congress bigwigs prepare pitch for LS battle

Raipur, November 22

When BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi kick-started poll campaign of their parties in State by holding rallies in Bastar, it was expected that the two would talk about Chhattisgarh, but both seemed disenchanted by local battle because their eyes were fixed far away at New Delhi, the power centre, for which they had come to slug it out in neglected tribal zone. Their agenda was clear – to prepare pitch for general elections in Chhattisgarh and head on to other poll-bound states to do the same. The remaining job was left with other star campaigners who set up tempo of their partymen for ultimate war for power in April-May 2014.

The BJP and Congress conducted over 300 rallies in the State. Almost half of these rallies were addressed by star campaigners while the rest were held by local leaders. The difference in star-studded rallies and desi public meetings was perceptible. While the invited orators adhered to terminologies like Modi, Sonia, Rahul, price rise, corruption, NDA, UPA, etc the local lot focused on Maoism, development, law and order, pro-incumbency and anti-incumbency.

Apparently, the State witnessed two types of poll campaigns, one for Vidhan Sabha and other for Lok Sabha. Though, the rhetoric of star campaigners and local leaders was beyond endurance limit of the common mass, the BJP and Congress had not choice than to continue the show as objectives of assembly as well as general elections were fulfilling in one go.

Politically, Chhattisgarh is a small State with 90 assembly and 11 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP has 10 LS seats while the Congress has one. Since both the parties want larger pie in general elections, none is letting any stone unturned in canvassing for it.

The BJP and Congress are adopting same formula in other poll-bound states too. Of 543 LS seats, Madhya Pradesh has 29, Rajasthan 25, Delhi 7 and Mizoram 1. Including 11 LS seats of Chhattisgarh, the five states have total 73 seats. Both the parties are concentrating least in Mizoram and more in other four states. The objective of both the parties is to save time as the star campaigners have to travel across the country in remaining five months.