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Bilaspur political scenario in 2022
- By 24hnbc --
- Friday, 30 Dec, 2022
24hnbc.com
समाचार -
BILASPUR, Dec 31
In the year 2022, Congress has strengthened its base in Bilaspur district as compared to earlier. They started with membership campaign which was completely digital. The party also issued membership cards linked with voter ID. Along with updating the digital information of party workers, Congress also strengthened booth management simultaneously. Congress after assuming power in Chhattisgarh, the Chief Minister has continuously focused on connecting political movement with common man. In this sequence, the party leaders visited rural areas and organized ‘Borey Basi’, the main food habitat of locals particularly in rural hamlets. Chief Minister's flagship schemes ‘Narwa, Ghurwa, Badi’ is also working in this direction.
During last assembly polls, former Congress state in-charge had assured party workers that important posts would be kept reserved for them when their government is formed and the high command fulfilled its promise giving vital posts to the senior party workers in the district in civic body. The undercurrent in favor of Congress was visible at the time of last assembly elections when the party won Bilaspur seat with a huge margin and gradually the graph of Congress in district got better. Although Mungeli and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM) districts were formed cutting away from Bilaspur but due to deep political roots, the Congress politics of both these districts reflects on Bilaspur. It is not that all is well for Congress in Bilaspur as the pendency of revenue cases and allegations of corruption have been bothering the government and the party throughout the year. The major lacuna was inefficient administration and hence the party leaders have now started meeting people directly. Organizational announcements are still pending at the party level due to which reports of malaise from some assembly constituencies also kept coming throughout the year which may add to the snag of party if they are not resolved in time ahead of the elections.
In 2022, good news came for BJP came only once during ‘Hunkar Rally’ held in Bilaspur under the leadership of Union Minister Smriti Irani when lakhs of party activists gathered to throw challenge at the ruling party. The state president was also changed twice resulting in discontent among the local leaders. Considering the 2023 elections, BJP high command made several reshuffles at the party level in Chhattisgarh. Even after losing power, BJP had faith in the OBC and ST formula. To enhance the numerical strength former Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik was elected the Leader of the Opposition and Vishnu Dev Sai as state president. Later in a major reshuffle Janjgir-Champa MLA Narayan Chandel was made the Leader of Opposition and Member of Parliament from Bilaspur Arun Sao promoted as the state president of BJP. It is said that from the point of view of vote bank in OBC, Sahu voters in Chhattisgarh can counter Kurmis. Earlier, the vote of this class went in bulk to BJP but later OBC politics of Congress made some dent in this. In the year 2022, except ‘Hunkar Rally’, BJP did not organize any major political movement discouraging the party activists which may be challenging for the party to defeat Congress in the assembly elections. In the last assembly polls, voters in Bilaspur district did not disappoint BJP inspite of Congress being in the air. In last 20-years, BJP was in power in civic body except once when Congress won the election of mayor. But when power changed, the local bodies were also captured by Congress, This also harmed BJP and this loss came from rural areas when Congress won the district panchayat elections. Recently, the responsibility of Bilaspur Lok Sabha constituency was given to former Chief Minister and National Vice President of BJP Dr Raman Singh after which he started meeting with the common party workers and people trying to understand the issues on ground level.
Moving away from Congress and BJP, the ground situation cannot be analyzed without taking into consideration the politics of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Admi Party (AAP). The NCP and AAP have registered their presence at least in Bilaspur urban areas in 2022. There was no mass movement in city in which workers of both these political parties were not present. NCP and AAP were vocal on democratic issues. JCC is looking dynamic again and the party wants to apply its strategic skills only in those assembly constituencies where they have vote bank like Bilaspur, Mungeli and GPM. Amit Jogi's ‘Jogi Adhikar Yatra’ is a step taken in this direction. In two seats of Bilaspur, BSP and JCC have huge vote bank in Masturi and Takhatpur which may affect the result of BJP and Congress in 2023.
(Prasun chatterjee)
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