The Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CGPCC) on Sunday accused the BJP for indulging in ‘political horse trading’ in a bid to win the Antagarh bypoll.
CGPCC Spokesperson, Sushil Anand Shukla, in a press release alleged that the ruling party lured Congress party’s official candidate, Manturam Pawar with ‘money’ to withdraw his nomination.“If Pawar did not want to contest polls, he should have returned the ticket to the party within the time-limit of filing nomination papers” said Shukla.He further alleged that Pawar, by withdrawing his nomination after deadline of filing the papers was over, proved that he was ‘bought out’ by BJP.
The senior Congress leader also slammed Pawar for backstabbing the party, which expressed its confidence in him and gave ticket consistently to him five times.Meanwhile, the workers of Raipur District Congress Committee registered their protest against the episode of Antagarh bypoll in which Congress candidate withdrew his nomination at the last moment.
A large number of agitated Congress workers under the leadership of the party’s Raipur City District president, Vikas Upadhyay took out a rally from the party’s headquarters.The protesters were stopped by a heavy police contingent near Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) headquarters while they were going to stage ‘Chakka Jam’ at Mahila Thana main road in the city.
The agitated workers shouted slogans against the ruling party for allegedly misusing the Government machinery and money to ‘buy out’ the candidates from Antagarh bypoll.“Congress party was in a very strong position to win the election. The BJP, with the help of the Government machinery and money, forced Congress party's and other candidates to leave the field” alleged Upadhyay.The protest came to an end only after the police arrested the agitating Congress workers.