Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel said that his vote share from the Patan Assembly constituency, from where BJP has fielded his nephew Vijay Baghel, will increase in the upcoming elections, as a lot of developmental works have been undertaken.
He also shared that the duo doesn’t share cordial relations.
“He is my nephew just for votes. He (Vijay) did not invite me to his daughter’s marriage… People know all this. In Patan, we have done a lot of developmental work. A university and a food processing plant have also come up. My vote share will only increase this time,” Baghel said in an exclusive interview to The Indian Express.
The CM also targeted the BJP saying that the saffron party has “mastered” only politics over communal and conversion issues.
“After Kawardha’s communal violence (in 2021), four municipal elections took place in nearby places and we won all of them. Like monkeys can jump branches and cannot hunt, and like tigers who can hunt but cannot jump branches, the BJP has mastered only politics over communal and conversion issues,” he said.
On a question about BJP raising the issue of alleged conversion of tribals in Bastar, Baghel said that the saffron party rakes up the issue for “political gains”, and alleged that tribal parties like Hamar Raj and Sarva Adi Dal are on “BJP’s payroll”.
“A few months ago, our minister Kawasi Lakhma challenged the BJP to prove even a single conversion that took place in our rule. They (BJP workers) attacked a church, assaulted the police and created fear in Narayanpur (in January 2023). This was done for political gains. Hamar Raj and other (small) parties are on the BJP’s payroll,” the CM said.
When asked about the last minute announcement of a loan waiver given to farmers, Baghel said that it was a “demand” of the farmers.
“The farmers demanded it, so I gave it. If farmers are strong, the entire system will be strong. While the BJP is following crony capitalism, we are helping the poor,” he said.
Baghel asserted that the Congress party is working for the Naxal issue in the state, and said that there are two approaches that the state government has undertaken to tackle it.
“There were two ideologies to dealing with the issue. One approach is bullet-for-bullet. Second is seeing it as a social, political and economical issue. We follow the second ideology and have gained people’s trust… Giving them what they want, that is jal, jungle and zameen (water, forest and land). We gave them rights, education and strengthened them economically. We worked on health and culture by developing their religious places,” he said.
“Due to this, Naxals have been pushed into a corner. We concentrated on the ideological fight and gave the tribals what they wanted and so the tribals stopped going to the Naxals. Now they use tractors, not guns. We gave Masahati patta (land deeds) to them in Abujhmad and now they are getting benefits of government schemes and are busy with work,” he continued.
Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and the state has seen 15 years of BJP rule, only to be trounced by the Congress in 2018.
After its creation, the Congress’s Ajit Jogi became the state’s first Chief Minister. But in its first Assembly election as a state in 2003, voters handed the BJP a majority in the 90-member Assembly, following which the party retained power in two consecutive polls, led by Raman Singh. Later, in 2018, the Congress came to power bagging 68 seats with a vote share of 43 per cent, while the BJP was reduced to 15 (33 per cent).
Polling is scheduled to be held in two phases — 20 seats (largely concentrated in the south) on November 7, and the remaining 70 on November 17. The counting of votes will be on December 3.