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Hospital is Jogi`s poll office: The Pioneer
Raipur, Apr 16: The man who was the king of Chhattisgarh till the other day, Ajit Jogi, has written to his constituency from the hospital bed in Mumbai. A consummate survivor - now in ways more than one - Jogi has released a newspaper advertisement which says: `Zindagi se badi daulat, kisike kaam jo aa jaoon, rahe gar dua aap sabki, toh har mushkil se guzar jaoon.`
Raipur, Apr 16: The man who was the king of Chhattisgarh till the other day, Ajit Jogi, has written to his constituency from the hospital bed in Mumbai. A consummate survivor - now in ways more than one - Jogi has released a newspaper advertisement which says: "Zindagi se badi daulat, kisike kaam jo aa jaoon, rahe gar dua aap sabki, toh har mushkil se guzar jaoon."
The accompanying picture shows Mr Jogi etherised upon the table, hands folded, eyes a tad swollen, looking rather sad and lonely.
The constituency, of course, is Mahasamund, where Mr Jogi is taking on the BJP's Vidya Charan Shukla. It is a fight billed as one of the biggest in the ensuing general election. While Renu Jogi has resigned as associate professor of Opthalmology from the Raipur Medical College, to be able to campaign for her injured husband, even some party insiders feel this is too little, too late.
The Congress's prevarication began with the "return" of Mr Jogi itself; according to many, this was left untill too late. "He should have been active and working for the party much earlier," says a Jogi supporter. The BJP's reaction is predictably a smirk: "He's a totally discredited man whose continuing presence in the party is its biggest drawback in Chhattisgarh."
Whatever may be the case, the fact is the Congress is up against a tide of support for the BJP. True, the BJP has all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state and it cannot, obviously, hope to improve upon that. The question is how much can it hold on to and the picture does appear to favour the new aggressive party, as opposed to the grand old one. To begin with Raipur, sitting MP and Union Minister Ramesh Bais is set to retain his seat. The Congress has fielded Shyama Charan Shukla, and, as the Editor of a Hindi daily puts it: "With due respect to Mr Shukla, I think he is the weakest Congress candidate in entire Chhattisgarh. He projects a fossilised picture of the party." The younger generation, according to him, needs leaders it can look up to; not someone who is on the verge of senility.
Next on the list is Mahasamund, the clash of one-and-a-half Titans. It probably is going to witness the keenest struggle, with the Pawan Dewan factor working against Mr Jogi. Mr Dewan has considerable clout in the area around Rajim, and is known to be close to V C Shukla as well. He was tipped to be the Congress's candidate from Mahasamund untill the wily Jogi edged him out. Only trouble for Mr Shukla could come from resistance from within the BJP to his election; after all, a powerful VC is a threat to all the regional BJP leaders. Apparently, the party has managed to tide over this, but the constituency remains delectably poised.
In Rajnandgaon, the BJP had a clear lead of five per cent votes over the Congress in 1999. It will take a considerable negative swing against the party for its candidate, Pradeep Gandhi, to lose. He is taking on Devrat Singh, an erstwhile royal from Khairagarh. It is a battle for prestige for Chief Minister Raman Singh, as Gandhi had vacated his Dongargaon Assembly seat for Raman. The State party machinery is galvanised here, which gives the BJP a clear edge.
The constituency, of course, is Mahasamund, where Mr Jogi is taking on the BJP's Vidya Charan Shukla. It is a fight billed as one of the biggest in the ensuing general election. While Renu Jogi has resigned as associate professor of Opthalmology from the Raipur Medical College, to be able to campaign for her injured husband, even some party insiders feel this is too little, too late.
The Congress's prevarication began with the "return" of Mr Jogi itself; according to many, this was left untill too late. "He should have been active and working for the party much earlier," says a Jogi supporter. The BJP's reaction is predictably a smirk: "He's a totally discredited man whose continuing presence in the party is its biggest drawback in Chhattisgarh."
Whatever may be the case, the fact is the Congress is up against a tide of support for the BJP. True, the BJP has all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state and it cannot, obviously, hope to improve upon that. The question is how much can it hold on to and the picture does appear to favour the new aggressive party, as opposed to the grand old one. To begin with Raipur, sitting MP and Union Minister Ramesh Bais is set to retain his seat. The Congress has fielded Shyama Charan Shukla, and, as the Editor of a Hindi daily puts it: "With due respect to Mr Shukla, I think he is the weakest Congress candidate in entire Chhattisgarh. He projects a fossilised picture of the party." The younger generation, according to him, needs leaders it can look up to; not someone who is on the verge of senility.
Next on the list is Mahasamund, the clash of one-and-a-half Titans. It probably is going to witness the keenest struggle, with the Pawan Dewan factor working against Mr Jogi. Mr Dewan has considerable clout in the area around Rajim, and is known to be close to V C Shukla as well. He was tipped to be the Congress's candidate from Mahasamund untill the wily Jogi edged him out. Only trouble for Mr Shukla could come from resistance from within the BJP to his election; after all, a powerful VC is a threat to all the regional BJP leaders. Apparently, the party has managed to tide over this, but the constituency remains delectably poised.
In Rajnandgaon, the BJP had a clear lead of five per cent votes over the Congress in 1999. It will take a considerable negative swing against the party for its candidate, Pradeep Gandhi, to lose. He is taking on Devrat Singh, an erstwhile royal from Khairagarh. It is a battle for prestige for Chief Minister Raman Singh, as Gandhi had vacated his Dongargaon Assembly seat for Raman. The State party machinery is galvanised here, which gives the BJP a clear edge.