End of road for BJP’s longest serving CM?

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 25

His son Abhishek Singh, facing serious allegations, denied the party ticket from the family bastion of Rajnandgaon and son-in-law Puneet Gupta booked for forgery and cheating. It could well be end of the road for the BJP’s longest serving CM of Chhattisgarh (December 7, 2003 – December 16, 2018).

BJP leaders deny that Singh is out of favour. They say the now BJP vice-president is “working at the grassroots level to ensure the party wins all 11 Lok Sabha seats”. The party has fielded 10 new faces to overcome the anti-BJP sentiment in the state where Singh served as CM for three consecutive terms.    

Called ‘chaurwale baba’ for his rice scheme and ‘mobile wale baba’  for distributing smartphones to the poor, Singh saw a steady rise in popularity as CM. His party was, however, voted out of power in 2018  with the farmers and tribals turning against it — the reason why the BJP has dropped all sitting MPs for this General Election.

About Raman Singh

• Started his political career as a councillor in 1983, became MLA of undivided Madhya Pradesh  in 1990 -Was elected MP in1999 when he  defeated Congress veteran Motilal Vora from Rajnandgaon
• Part of Vajpayee govt, was sent back to state in 2003 after CM candidate DS Judeo embroiled in row
• His son Abhishek Singh, Rajnandgaon MP, was allegedly mentioned in the Panama Papers leak
• Panel looking at alleged irregularities by his son-in-law as govt-run hospital superintendent