Former chief minister and Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (CJC) Ajit Jogi will not contest next month’s assembly elections, said his son Amit Jogi on Friday. He said his father won’t be able to focus on his constituency due to a busy schedule in campaigning for alliance partners.
“Being a star campaigner, the alliance between Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, BSP & CPI would’ve made him to visit 90 constituencies making it difficult to concentrate on his own,” Amit Jogi was quoted as saying by ANI.
Ajit Jogi was earlier projected as the chief ministerial candidate by Mayawati when announcing prepoll alliance.
The CJC announced a pre-poll alliance with the CPI days after they joined hands with Mayawati’s BSP. According to the seat-sharing formula announced by Mayawati for Chhattisgarh, the BSP will contest 35 seats while Jogi’s Chhattisgarh Janata Congress will contest the remaining 55 seats in the 90-member Assembly.
The former bureaucrat-turned-politician, who has always been considered a strong tribal leader, said he would contest all 90 Assembly seats in the state in the upcoming polls. He recently stoked controversy after he promised to ban liquor in the state but permit tribals to consume it as it was part of their culture if his party forms the government.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Thursday announced 12 candidates for the Bastar region, replacing three candidates from the 2013 election, including a sitting MLA.
The party has been grappling with its leaders changing side, Ram Dayal Uike, the party MLA from Pali Tanakhar and a tribal leader who was appointed the party’s state unit working president in January this year switched to BJP. The BJP which has been in power in the state for past three terms is targetting Congress in its campaigns. Addressing BJP’s booth-level workers at Ambikapur, Amit Shah asked them to tell people that the state will again be at the mercy of Maoists if the Congress emerges victorious in next month’s Assembly polls.
The assembly election in the state will be contested in two phases, voting in the first phase will be held on November 12, and in the second on November 20. The results will be declared on December 11.