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. However, as the date of polling closed in, some Congress legislators stayed away from the campaign and as a result the prospect of the party candidate became dismal, sources said.
Similarly, in Mahasamund the difference of opinion was clearly visible between the local leaders and Congress candidate and former chief minister Ajit Jogi. The situation was such that the party could not declare an election coordinator.
Sources said Dhamtari legislator Gurmukh Singh Hora was made election coordinator for Kanker lok Sabha seat against the consent of Jogi and as a result his supporters were aggrieved. Some people say this was done especially to create discomfort for Jogi.
In Raipur lok Sabha seat too, the party cadres were divided into two camps about the selection of candidate. Initially the party wanted Chhaya Verma as its candidate but later declared the name of Satyanarayan Sharma for the seat.
Questions were also raised in this matter on the role of state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel who was reportedly not in favour of Sharma. Similarly, Baghel’s father Nandkumar had also openly come out with statements against the party’s official candidate.
Although Bhupesh himself clarified saying that he does not buy the argument of his father and he has political difference with his father, his rivals may try to embarrass him on this score. Apart from this, some party leaders are also raising questions on the entire poll management strategy of the party.
They said the party high command had allocated three choppers for campaigning and had provided all necessary logistic support for the state but they were not utilised properly because of the rivalry.