Reacting sharply to the Chief Minister’s statement on the Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi, State Congress president Charandas Mahant said Raman Singh should not forget that the BJP was wiped out areas in Chhattisgarh wherever Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressed public meetings.
He said, Rahul Gandhi had addressed meetings in Sarguja region, where the Congress registered historic success by grabbing 7 out of 8 seats. Similarly, the party won 8 out of 12 seats in Bastar region, whereas, in Rajnandgaon district the Congress emerged victorious in four seats out of total six. Congress’s young candidate and late Nandkumar Patel’s son Umesh Patel emerged victorious by garnering more votes than the Chief Minister, Raman Singh, Mahant said. The BJP could secure only 0.75 per cent more votes than the Congress. In 2013, Congress won 40.29 per cent votes.
Similarly, in the 2013 assembly elections, the number Congress MlAs has gone up and so has the vote percentage of the party. All this became possible because of the guidance of Rahul Gandhi. In Sarguja, Raman Singh had erected replica of Red Forte to keep Narendra Modi in good humor, but the voters have rejected Modi and the BJP. In Sarguja, the BJP had to bite the dust by losing 7 out of 8 assembly seats.
Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh is forgetting that he may have succeeded in forming the Government, but assembly elections results made it clear that the reputation of BJP and Raman Singh had suffered a setback. Another interesting fact has emerged from the election results. The BJP has projected Narendra Modi as prime Ministerial candidate and harped on developmental issues. Thinly attended public meetings have pricked the popularity balloon of Narendra Modi and took the wind out of it.
The BJP had to face humiliating defeat in Durg City, Kanker, Korba, Bilha and Mahasamund. In most of these places, Modi addressed public meetings. If Raman Singh concedes that the victory of the party was the outcome of Modi’s popularity, then he should publicly accept that there is no contribution of his Government’s work in his comeback to power.