Swelling crowd at public meetings and high turnout on roadsides to have a glance of Chief Minister Raman Singh who is presently touring the State since May 6, have dropped enough signs that one more stint of Raman Raj is in the offing in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh.
The ayurvedic doctor-turned-politician Singh who is heading the BJP Government since December 2003, is trekking the State in name of ‘Vikas Yatra’ to gauge the pulse of voters as the State goes to polls for a 90-member legislative Assembly by year-end.
The yatra which had begun on May 6 from Maoist heartland Dantewada will culminate on June 20 in tribal heartland Surguja.
The CM is covering the State’s all 27 districts in six-phases in a specially designed vehicle ‘Vikas Rath’ which has all latest facilities inside, including CCTVs to know the crowd attendance around the Rath besides an in-built lift which the CM uses to climb up on vehicle to interact with passionate crowd.
With already roughly 2,000 km of his planned 6100-km-long Vikas Yatra coming to an end, Raman Singh has so far reached out to over one million people and there are enough indications that the
State will witness another five-year regime of Raman Raj, with all possibility of increased vote percentage and number of seats comparing to what the BJP had achieved in past two successive polls in 2008 and in 2003.
“The Congress leaders who are downplaying Raman Singh’s achievements on development must see the writing on the wall, no one can stop Raman to score a hat-trick, he just needs to maintain the rhythm till the day of voting,” Rajesh Sahu, a dismayed Congress worker told The Pioneer at Raman Singh’s Vikas Yatra rally on May 16 at Dhamdha, which falls
under Saja Assembly seat which the BJP has not won for over two decades.
A 35-year-old poor lady Komal whose family is a die-hard Congress supporter, remarked, “I never expected such a massive turnout at Raman’s public meeting at Congress stronghold Saja, people from all age groups and class, were jostling to each other under 45 degree-plus temperature to have a glance of Raman Singh whom they were calling ‘Vikas Purush’.
The BJP has so far rejoiced the response people have extended to the Vikas Yatra. Women holdings toddlers in arms waited for hours under scorching heat at many areas on roadsides en-route to Vikas Rath to extend “good luck” to Raman Singh for a third successive term.
“There are several BJP leaders in the State who have already started taking credit for unprecedented success of the Vikas Yatra in their respective districts but they must know the bitter fact that voters are liking just one face in the BJP in the State — Raman Singh — who is known as a large-hearted loveable personality because of his thirst for development and desire for improving peoples’ life-quality,” said Rajendra Markam, a BJP worker who belongs to Sukma district which is in the State’s extreme southern tip.
BJP insiders claim that despite people’s huge affection for Raman Singh, the party should not get carried away with perception of ‘certain
victory’ as serious infighting in several Assembly segments and anti-incumbency against party MlAs in more than
20 seats could easily spoil the gameplan.
The BJP’s latest internal analysis shows that party may suffer casualties in tribal stronghold sprawling Bastar region which is made up of seven districts.
The party presently holds 11 out of Bastar’s 12 seats and fresh reports suggest that the BJP will struggle hard to retain at least four-five seats in the region.
The BJP also needs to improve its performance in Korba, Korea, Bilaspur, Raigarh and Surguja districts.