BJP finds it hard to penetrate Chhattisgarh's Fortress Baghel

By Sundeep Pouranik
Raipur, April 2 Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, several states are set to go to polls this year with Chhattisgarh being one of them where Assembly elections are going to be held. The state is currently ruled by a Congress government and is seen as a tough political challenge for the BJP to wrest it from the Congress.

The BJP is likely to face a tough political fight in Chhattisgarh not only in this year's Assembly elections but also 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP had ruled Chhattisgarh for nearly a decade-and-a-half and lost the 2018 Assembly elections with the Congress coming to power. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won by a thumping majority and the Congress could win only two out of 11 seats in the state.

As the Assembly elections are nearing, both the BJP and the Congress have intensified the political fight in the state. While the Congress is trying to woo the people with its welfare schemes, the BJP is openly accusing the Congress of not fulfilling the poll promises made in 2018.

Senior BJP leader Shivratan Sharma says that the BJP had to face defeat in 68 out of 90 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections. It was also because the Congress had released a promising election manifesto and tried to woo every section of the society, he added.

However, the Congress could not fulfill all the promises that were made in 2018 and now there is resentment among the people. The major reason for the defeat of the Congress will be the brewing discontent among the people, Sharma says.

Referring to the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Sharma added that while his party lost the Assembly polls, it won nine out of 11 Lok Sabha seats. Not only this, BJP had an edge over 65 out of 90 seats in the state Assembly. Similar results will be repeated in this year's Assembly elections as well.

On the other hand, the Congress is finding itself in a comfortable position for the next Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Sushil Anand Shukla, the head of the Congress Media Cell, says that the USP of the Bhupesh Baghel-led government is that it has implemented all the poll promises made for every section of society.

"The promises made by the Congress in the last Assembly elections have been fulfilled. The poor, farmers, labourers, agricultural labourers, tribals, unemployed youth, women, etc., have started to feel the transformation. The benefits are at the grassroots level," said Shukla.

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