Dumped by the electorate during the just concluded Assembly polls, Chhattisgarh’s regional political outfit ‘Swabhiman Manch’ on Monday officially merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here in presence of key BJP leaders including Chief Minister Raman Singh.
Interestingly, the regional political outfit had once also harboured the ambition of opening a ‘decisive’ third front in the mineral-rich State along with the left wing Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) against both the BJP and the Congress during the Assembly polls in the State.
Swabhiman Manch’s merger with the BJP assumes significance and the timing is right. The move comes at a time when the latter is gearing itself for its ‘Mission 2014’ projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate with a multi-faceted national poll campaign.
“The merger of Swabhiman Manch with the BJP would prove to be a ‘milestone,” remarked Chief Minister Raman Singh at a ceremony at the State BJP’s headquarters ‘Ekatm Parisar’ in Raipur. Singh who is heading the BJP regime in the state since Dec 2003, said that Deepak Sahu who is the son of Swabhiman Manch’s founder and the first State President of Chhattisgarh unit of the BJP late Tarachand Sahu has the enthusiasm and the desire to strive for achieving a holistic development of Chhattisgarh.
Recalling the political career of late Tarachand Sahu, the Chief Minister stated that the former was elected MP four times in a row. “It is my belief that the BJP would set a new record in the forthcoming lok Sabha polls by winning all the 11 seats in Chhattisgarh,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Swabhiman Manch’s national president Deepak Sahu stated that his father late Tarachand Sahu formed ‘Swabhiman Manch’ in 2008.
He said that his party’s workers would strive towards the goal of the BJP winning all the 11 lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh. “We are also determined to make Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of the country,” Sahu said.
BJP MP from Durg and national president of BJP’s Mahila Morcha, Saroj Pandey remarked that the national president of the Swabhiman Manch, Deepak Sahu along with all the party’s office bearers and workers have joined the BJP after getting impressed with the ruling party’s welfare schemes being implemented in the State.
Incidentally, the Chief Minister also offered BJP’s membership to State general secretary of Congress party’s Mahila Morcha Sheela Mishra and State secretary Varsha Pandey who joined the party on Monday.