The main Opposition Congress on Saturday announced the name of former legislator Manturam Pawar for the Antagarh Assembly seat bypolls to upset the ruling BJP Governement — which is still in intense search of a perfect party candidate to retain the Scheduled Tribe reserved seat.
Sources said that ahead of the election committee meeting, the BJP senior leaders have initially dumped the idea of local party workers and leaders who had come to Raipur to press for Kanker MP Vikram Usendi’s wife Rampyari.
The BJP State leadership has strongly disapproved the suggestion of fielding the Kanker MP’s spouse and stated that it would create a ‘wrong precedent’ in the party.
The BJP has made clear before the local cadres that only a winning candidate, having a clean public image would be preferred to take on Manturam, who enjoys considerable base in Antagarh segment. Reports say that a senior Minister in the BJP Government in the State is lobbying hard for Usendi’s wife.
The die-hard supporter of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, Manturam has lost to BJP candidate by roughly 5,000 votes in last year Assembly polls while in 2008 Assembly polls he suffered defeat by nearly 100 votes.
The Congress is now hoping to cash in on the public anger against the alleged rampant cancellation of ration cards by the BJP Government citing irregularities during its issuance. About 11,500 ration cards of the poor people have been cancelled in Antagarh constituency in recent months by the incumbent the BJP Government.