Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s posturing in the crucial Election Committee Meeting of Congress party slated on September 1 in New Delhi could provide indications on decisions expected from the party’s central leadership, say party sources.
With apparently clear message from the party’s central leadership that Jogi is nowhere a leader the party can afford to ignore, State Congress President Dr Charandas Mahant invited the former Chief Minister to attend the meeting.
The former Chief Minister had been staying put in New Delhi for past few days while raising speculations on his next move amidst talks of factionalism becoming too deep rooted in the Chhattisgarh unit of the party to remove.
The members attending the first meeting of the Election Committee held earlier could not arrive on any decision on an assortment of issues while raising doubts on the second meeting scheduled for September 1, sources informed.
The 2,400 applications of the ticket seekers for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh received by the Chhattisgarh State Congress Committee could be one of the agendas for the discussion by the central leadership during the second meeting to guage the interest shown by the ticket seekers to jump in the poll battle.
However, it was learnt from party sources that Dr Mahant alongwith leader of Opposition in Chhattisgarh Assembly Ravindra Choubey had already shortlisted applications of 350 ticker seekers with Jogi handing over list of suitable names to the party’s Screening Committee Chairman Dr C P Joshi.
With the possibility of both Dr Joshi and member of Screening Committee Manik Tagor attending the Election Commiittee Meetings on September 1, Jogi’s recommendations on likely candidates is likely to provide a clear picture on the fate of ticket seekers considering his strong rooting in Chhattisgarh’s political battalefield.
Party sources are eagerly betting on Jogi putting not less than 40 to 45 names of candidates who stand a chance to make a difference among his supporters while the central leadership seems likely to evaluate every aspect of ticket distribution during the coming days.
Sources informed that changes are higher for the candidates who have lost the previous Assembly poll by a wafer thin margin to be given a second chance.
When contacted the former Chief Minister’s son Amit Jogi stated that his father being a senior congress committee member had been invited by state congress committee to attend the election committee meet in Delhi on September 1. What kind of demand he would exert would only be known after the election committee meeting, he added.