Chhattisgarh’s Congress legislature Party (ClP) leader and leader of the Opposition TS Singh Deo on Tuesday cleared the air over resentment among a section of party workers over denial of ticket to former Minister Satyanarayan Sharma to contest from the Raipur lok Sabha constituency.
Singh Deo while talking to The Pioneer stated that Chhaya Verma had telephoned him that Satyanarayan Sharma’s son Vishal Sharma had conveyed the message to her that his father was not interested in contesting the election. After this message, the candidate has been changed for the Raipur seat, he said.
The leader of the Opposition said that Sharma neither told him nor the State president that he was not going to contest the election. He said he never had any discussion in this regard with Sharma.Singh Deo made the situation clear about the change of candidates in Raipur and Raigarh. The candidates had earlier been declared on March 8. In a sudden move on March 13, Raipur and Raigarh candidates were changed.
Giving a clarification, he said that he did not provide any opinion for changing any candidate. About the earlier declared candidate for Raipur seat Chhaya Verma, he said that Verma had talked to him and the State president.Verma had told them that Congress candidate Satyanarayan Sharma’s son Vishal Sharma had come to her and while conveying the message of his father said, “You are like his daughter, and you should fight the election.”
The leader of the Opposition said that Chhaya Verma herself told this to him. However, he did not have any talk with Satyanarayan Sharma in this regard.He said that later, based on the message, the party High Command declared Chhaya Verma as the candidate. Singh Deo said that there was a communication gap in the whole process.The leader of the Opposition considered the ransacking of the Congress Bhavan as objectionable.Meanwhile, Chhaya Verma refused to talk on this issue. She said that she had been following the instructions of the High Command.
On the contrary, the party's Raipur Rural president Pankaj Sharma said that “If it was so, why the State president or the leader of the Opposition or the State in-charge had not contacted Satyanarayan Sharma and not made efforts to confirm itIJ”