E-Paper
Lok Sabha elections 2019 Phase 2 voting: In Chhattisgarh, parties face changing caste allegiances
The main issue in Mahasamund, an Other Backward Caste-dominated constituency is agrarian distress. Congress fielded former state president Dhanendra Sahu, while the BJP has fielded former MLA Chunnilal Sahu.
Three Parliamentary constituencies in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on April 18, in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections: Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, and Kanker. Bastar had gone to polls on April 11.
Rajnandgaon is no longer expected to be a cakewalk for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has fielded Santosh Pandey, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary, instead of the more popular former chief minister, Raman Singh, or his son, sitting MP, Abhishek Singh. Congress has fielded former MLA Bholaram Sahu — the Sahu community constitutes about 23% of the votes. Maoist affected Kanker, is a Scheduled Tribe reserved Lok Sabha seat.
The main issue in Mahasamund, an Other Backward Caste-dominated constituency is agrarian distress. Congress fielded former state president Dhanendra Sahu, while the BJP has fielded former MLA Chunnilal Sahu. In the 2018 assembly polls, in which the Congress ended the BJP’s 15-year old rule, the Sahus had largely favoured the Congress.
The BJP, however, is relying on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity. “This time everything has changed. Kurmis, Sahus, and Yadavs shifted from BJP to Congress. Hence it will interesting to watch two Sahus fighting in Mahasmund,” said Ashok Tomar, a Raipur-based political commentator.
