Bilaspur is witnessing a battle of nerves Dileep Singh Judeo, better known for ‘cash-on-camera’ scandal, and Ajit Jogi.
If at all there is a battle for prestige going on in Chhattisgarh, it is here. Bilaspur, the commercial capital of the state is witnessing a battle of nerves between the BJP leader and scion of erstwhile Jashpur kingdom Dileep Singh Judeo, better known for ‘cash-on-camera’ scandal, and old warhorse of Congress Ajit Jogi.
The battle lines have been drawn on rural vs urban and backward vs forward caste lines. Jogi, the former CM and the Congress’ mainstay in the state, is contesting against Judeo by “proxy” as the latter describes it. Jogi’s MLA wife Dr Renu Jogi is the Congress nominee. The husband-wife duo is pulling all stops to check their BJP rival. The Jogi camp thinks Judeo is the only BJP leader, apart from chief minister Raman Singh, who had a pan-Chhattisgarh image and would be a hard nut to crack.
The fact that the contest is so intense could be borne by the fact that even the moustache twirling Judeo acknowledged that Jogi’s presence has made the going tough for him. Both the camps are pursuing their respective agendas aimed at polarising their respective support base.
What has made Bilaspur significant is the presence of nearly 22% Satnamis, a SC grouping to which Jogi also belongs. Traditionally, Congress supporters, the community had voted for the BJP and the BSP in the last Assembly elections. The challenge before Jogi is to bring back the 88,000 Satnami voters who had gone with the BJP in the Assembly elections.
“There is confusion in the Satnami community. But I can say with confidence that they are with me in this election,” Jogi told DNA.
In 2004, Lok Sabha polls, Bilaspur was a reserved constituency and had 14,11,768 voters. Out of this 6,21,304 had cast their votes. The fact that the segment has over 80% voters belonging to SC/ST and OBC categories have encouraged the Congress camp to call it as an advantage for them. However, the BJP also claims their support as it had won most of the assembly seats in this area. Among the so-called upper castes Brahmins and Rajputs are mere 1.5% each and Banias (trading community) only 2%.
No one is prepared to hazard a guess about the winner. Bilaspur was won by the BJP consecutively for four times. But the entry this time into the fray by Jogi family has sent jitters in the BJP camp also.
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