A key politician of State’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Subhash Rao claimed that his party would comfortably retain power in 90-member Assembly polls slated to be held later this year.
“The BJP has ushered in development in all the 27 districts since it came into power in December 2003, the Raman Singh Government has done a fantastic job and cared of all sections and communities, I am sure the party would retain power easily in this year’s polls,’’ Rao who has been actively associated with the BJP for more than two decades, told The Pioneer.
He said the history shows that the BJP was improving its vote bank and popularity in Chhattisgarh in each Assembly polls and inputs coming in from various districts indicate that the party would further strengthen its vote bank.
“You can’t say that BJP has limited hold in any section, the party has strong base in Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) as well as upper castes and even minorities too,’’ remarked Rao who is also the chairman of the Chhattisgarh Housing Board.
As per latest census data, the population of ST community comprises marginally over 30 percent of State’s total 2.55 crore population while SC population is also a little over 12 percent.
The OBC dominates the State with more than 50 percent of the total population.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh is presently holding a six-phased 6100 km long ‘vikas yatra’ to reach out to masses across the state and brief people about the development and welfare works being carried out by the State Government since December 2003. Rao is the co-coordinator of the yatra.
When asked about party’s chances in tribal stronghold but violence-hit Bastar region, Rao said, “the BJP is expected to win all the 12 seats this time on basis of the welfare works and schemes executed by the Raman Singh Government.”
Bastar which is made up of seven districts was considered the safe bastion of the Congress till 2003. The BJP had surprised everyone in the region as it bagged 11 out of the total 12 seats.
The Congress had managed to win only Konta seat in Sukma district but only by a few hundred votes.