E-Paper
Kharasia
Kharasia has been a strong bastion of Congress since the constituency was carved out and the seat has been considered ?safest? in the Congress circles.
The small town of Kharsia in Raigarh district has a special significance in Chhattisgarh politics. It has been a strong bastion of Congress since the constituency was carved out and the seat has been considered ‘safest’ in the Congress circles.
Such is the confidence of politicians that even stalwarts like Arjun Singh preferred Kharsia for the by-elections in 1988 when he was the chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh.
Though he had to face a hard time from the BJP nominee - now a tainted politician - Dilip Singh Judeo, Kharsia, had maintained its reputation of a Congress citadel as Arjun Singh won by around 7,000 votes.
During the elections, Judeo had succeeded to mesmerise the locals and got tremendous response except from Nandeli block where an unparallel clout of the then Congress Sarpanch, Nand Kumar Patel, saw Judeo struggle to hold even a single public meeting.
This had impressed Arjun Singh and he had given the Congress ticket to Patel in 1990 elections despite the fact that Patel did not seek a party nomination. He has been representing the constituency since then and now is the Home minister of Chhattisgarh.
Interestingly, he will face his political mentor, Laxmi Prasad Patel this time, who resigned from the membership of the Assembly for Arjun Singh in 1988.
Laxmi Patel won from the constituency as Congress candidate thrice. But when he realised that it would be difficult for him to get a party ticket by depriving Nand Kumar, he joined BJP last year and got a party nomination from the constituency this time.
But this has not disturbed the State Home Minister. “I had defeated the veteran BJP leader, Lakhiram Agrawal with a huge margin in my first elections in 1990 when there was a wave for BJP in the then undivided Madhya Pradesh. I got 50.52 per cent votes while Agrawal got a meagre 35.26 per cent votes in the elections,” he said and pointed out that the BJP obtained 59 Assembly seats, out of 90 from Chhattisgarh in 1990 state elections.
The Congress candidate is banking on his development works, successfully carried out in the constituency, thanks to his better equation with the chief minister Ajit Jogi. “I always keep in touch with my voters, despite the fact of being the Home Minister of the State which is highly naxal porn,” he added.
Though some feel there could be a triangular fight as the NCP has fielded, Vishnu Tiwari -- once a star campaigner of Patel but at the moment it seems the Home Minister has an edge over his rivals.
