Ajit Jogi-Mayawati pact on test in Chhattisgarh

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 15

While the Congress suspects the JCC-BSP-CPI alliance in Chhattisgarh to be the BJP’s “B-team”, the performance of the newly formed political combination in the ongoing Assembly elections is under close watch for it may decide future of any anti-BJP front being formed to take on saffron juggernaut led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

Senior BJP leaders, including Shah, have disdainfully dismissed the possibility of “mahagathbandhan” affecting their prospects in 2019. They had all fought against us in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, Shah has said many times in response to questions over ongoing efforts to form an anti-BJP alliance for the next General Election.

Observers, however, believe the Ajit Jogi-Mayawati alliance in Chhattisgarh is another test case for the “mahagathbandhan” like the successful coming together of the SP and the BSP was in the UP bypoll.

Janata Congress Chhattisgarh chief Ajit Jogi was the first Chief Minister of the newly formed state between 2000 and 2003. Ever since the BJP formed its first government in the state, it has not allowed the Congress to return to power. Even in these elections, some surveys have claimed that Jogi might damage his parent party more than the BJP.

Leader of Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Tribhuvaneshwar Saran Singh Deo recently accused Jogi of “helping the BJP” even while he was in the Congress. “He was sabotaging the party in the state and not helping it win,” Deo was quoted as saying.

Chhattisgarh was always considered a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress. But the liaison between Jogi and Mayawati’s BSP appear to have thrown up some interesting possibilities. The CPI further added oomph to the four-dimensional fight. It was allocated two Assembly seats (Dantewada and Konta) that had earlier been given to the BSP.

The CPI emerged third on the two seats in 2013 and Mayawati won just one in the last Assembly elections. How they compliment each other would be an interesting case study. Their coming together has given the combination an edge on caste equations in the state, though conventionally when the vote against the saffron party is divided it is the BJP that gains.

The fourth angle is the one led by the Gondwana Party and the SP. Sources also claimed a tacit understanding on seats between the SP and the BSP.

Meanwhile, allegations are already flying due to differences in poll percentages in the first phase in 18 constituencies on November 12. The remaining — 72 seats — will vote on November 20.

The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh is contesting 55 seats and the BSP 33 in the 90-member Assembly.