Electioneering was intensified in Chhattisgarh on Monday with candidates and leaders of the BJP and the Congress, besides Independent ones addressing continuous public meetings and contacting people to garner support in the urban body election scheduled to be held in two-phases for December 29 and 31.
In Raipur, the city roads echoed with publicity vehicles while pamphlets, posters and hoardings of the candidates have been installed every where. The post of Mayor of Raipur has become an issue of prestige for both the BJP and Congress as both the parties are putting their best to ensure victory in the election.
BJP Mayoral candidate Sachchidanand Upasne and Congress Mayoral candidate Pramod Dubey moved out in public with support of senior leaders of the party. The dissidents who were initially reluctant to participate in the election campaign were also seen campaigning for the party candidates. Cabinet Ministers Brijmohan Agrawal and Rajesh Munat carried out election campaign in their respective constituencies to push for the BJP candidate.
They sought votes for the Mayoral candidate Sachchidanand Upasne as well as the candidates for the post of corporator in different wards. Apart from this the leaders are holding regular meetings with the party workers and motivating them to put their best to ensure victory of BJP candidates.
The BJP leaders and candidates alleged that the outgoing Mayor of the Congress party, Kiranmayee Nayak has been inactive and retarding the development of Raipur city in past five years.
They said that instead of taking any positive step, the Mayor had created hurdles in development of the city. It was due to erroneous working of the Mayor, the city is facing problems like insanitation and other civic failures. They highlighted the features of the manifesto and promised people to turn Raipur into a smart city , if elected.
On the other hand Congress candidate Pramod Dubey accused the State Government for adopting a discriminatory approach towards Raipur Municipal Corporation. The State Government had tried to create problems for Mayor throughout her tenure. The developments witnessed in Raipur are due to efforts of the Mayor and the city would have developed at a greater pace had State Government provided the needed support, said Dubey.
Congress leader Satyanarayan Sharma held meeting with party leaders and workers and motivated them to intensify the campaign in support of Dubey and candidates contesting for the post of corporator.
Meanwhile independent candidates were seen moving through the wards meeting people and requesting them to vote for them. The publicity vehicles were seen moving across the lanes seeking support of the candidates
via melodious and Bollywood tunes. Meanwhile a meeting of BJP medical cell was held at Ekatm Parisar and about 150 doctors participated in the meeting. The doctors extended their support to the Mayoral candidate Sachchidanand Upasne and candidates in fray for the post of corporator.
Upasne, Subhash Rao, Chhaganlal Mundra, and Ashok Pandey addressed the meeting. State in-charge of the cell, Dr JP Sharma lauded the role of doctors in previous elections and appealed them for victory of BJP candidates in the urban body polls.
Dr Akhilesh Dubey, Dr Shailesh Kahndelwal, Dr Vidyakant Dwivedi, Dr Ravi Rathi, Dr Manoj Thakur, Dr Dilip Pimple, Dr Raju Markanday and others were present in the meeting.