The infighting in the state unit of the Congress party may intensify after the declaration of the lok Sabha election results on May 16. Well-placed sources claimed that the candidates have lodged complaints with the top leadership of the party of sabotage against at least ten party legislators at different levels and the intra-party rivalry is expected to escalate after May 16 if the results go against the Congress which is widely expected.
The state assembly election held last year in November had witnessed a close fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress which lost the polls largely because of infighting. The percentage of votes polled by the BJP and the main Opposition Congress in the assembly polls showed that a gap of mere 0.75 per cent of votes between the two parties helped the BJP to pull off the winning hat-trick.
If the polling data of November assembly polls are taken into consideration, the Congress had taken a lead in at least five constituencies out of the total 11 lok Sabha seats. But the Congress seems to be struggling to retain the same lead in parliamentary polls mainly because of increased rivalry within the Congress. A senior Congress leader says that the Congress has a fair chance to win at least five lS seats but reports indicate that about 10 party legislators worked against party candidates.
Even the 10 Congress MlAs campaigned against the party candidates and two of them were highly active against Union minister of state Charandas Mahant, the party candidate from Korba. However, leader of the opposition and senior Congress leader TS Singh Deo said he did not have any information that any of the party MlAs campaigned against the party’s official nominees in the lok Sabha polls. He, however, admitted that several leaders in Surguja area had defied the party and he will seek action against them.
The intra-party rivalry and open factionalism within the Congress fold in Chhattisgarh is nothing new. Without naming anybody, Mahant said he did not get the required cooperation from his own party cadres in the lok Sabha polls. He has reportedly brought the matter to the attention of the party high command which has assured him to look into the matter after May 16. In Surguja lok Sabha constituency, initially Congress candidate Ramdev Ram was in a better position. In this lok Sabha area the Congress has seven legislators.