C''garh assembly polls: Congress fields Vajyapee’s niece against CM

Rajnandgaon, October 23

Congress has chosen to field Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karun Shukla to fight Chief Minister Raman Singh on his home turf Rajnandgaon, as political parties gear up for an intense battle for next month’s assembly elections.

Singh, a two-time Member of Legislative Assembly from Rajnandangoan—a constituency in which he made his Lok Sabha debut in 1999—went file his nomination papers on Tuesday with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. The 66-year-old Singh even touched the feet of Adityanath—20 years his junior—to seek his blessings before he went in.

Singh's wife Veena Singh, their son Abhishek Singh, an MP from Rajnandgaon, and BJP leader in charge of Chhattisgarh Anil Jain also accompanied him.

Before filing his nomination, Singh told reporters, "I have full faith in the strength of party workers and booth-level workers. The BJP has dedicated this election to Atal ji and each party worker has vowed to form (BJP) government for the fourth consecutive term with a thumping majority in the state".

 When asked about Karuna Shukla contesting against him, all Singh said was: “They (Congress) did not get any local candidate”.

Raman Singh was elected from the Dongargaon assembly constituency in Rajnandgaon district in 2004—the first time he became chief minister of Chhattisgarh.

Incidentally, Raman Singh served in Vajpayee’s council of ministers as a Minister of State for Commerce and Industries.

Candidates from BJP, Congress and other parties also filed their nominations for the 18 seats spread across eight naxal-affected districts-Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma, Kondagaon, Kanker, Narayanpur and Rajnandgaon, going to polls in the first phase on November 12.

Elections to Chhattisgarh’s 90-member assembly will be held in two phases—November 12 and 20.

Votes will be counted on December 11.

 Tuesday was the last day of filing of nominations for the first phase of the polls. PTI