Months after falling into a power struggle with Health Minister TS Singh Deo over an alleged 2.5-year power-sharing formula, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has got a big boost as the ruling party declared the results of civic polls, whose A couple was announced for days ago.
Political observers agree that the result has given strength to the Congress party and the chief minister, but it has left the opposition BJP much to think about with a deep introspection ahead of the mega-struggle in 2013, when the state Assembly elections are due.
It was no less than a setback for the opposition BJP as the ruling Congress won all six nagar panchayats, four out of five municipal councils and four out of 15 municipal corporations in the elections held on December 20. Sources said that in the two municipal corporations too, the Congress is barely short of a majority and it may tempt independent candidates to come to power.
Let us inform that in Jamul Municipal Council, BJP had won a consolation, while in Khariagarh both the parties got 10-10 seats.
Congress ministers Ravindra Choubey, Anila Bhedia and Tamradhwaj Sahu, who were handling election duties, heaved a sigh of relief with the parties winning comfortably. Meanwhile, many believe that the results may force the BJP high command to rethink its overall strategy.
Going to the elections, CM Baghel had said that the party is going among the masses with the works and achievements and the results have somehow supported his rule. After the victory, CGCC chief Mohan Markam said that the people seem to be satisfied with the works and initiatives of the Baghel government in the last three years. Markam said the party was able to make impressive performances from Bastar to Surguja and also in the plains.
Appreciating the massive victory, Markam said that we have won both the hearts and minds of the people.
CM Baghel, who is busy helping the party put up an impressive show in UP, lauded the election in-charge, workers and candidates. Barring one or two places, the BJP could not even get close to the Congress party, he said, despite his state in-charge personally overseeing the civic polls.
However, the BJP seemed eager to go into introspection mode. Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik said the party accepts the mandate graciously and will look into the reasons for the defeat. Nevertheless, he accused the Baghel government of misusing the government machinery and rigging the voter list.
Despite spending three years in power, the opposition is also terrified by the absence of an anti-incumbency wave.
Places such as Durg, Bhulai and Birgaon displayed the growing influence of the ruling party in urban areas, while mandates in rural areas such as Bastar and rural areas showed the impact of the Godhan Nyay Yojana. In places like Premnagar Nagar Panchayat, Congress won the post of president after a gap of nearly 40 years.
A senior political observer from Raipur said the Congress has performed smart in rural and semi-urban areas which are the party’s traditional support base. He said that measures like purchase of cow dung, halving the electricity bill, waiving loans of women self-help groups and land ownership have worked.
The recent results have once again proved that the Congress party which won 68 out of 90 seats in the 2018 assembly elections to power with an overwhelming majority, is moving ahead with the momentum.
The three by-elections held since 2018, all went in favor of the ruling party.
In the year 2019 too, the Congress party had won seven out of ten municipal corporations, while the BJP, which remained in power for an undisputed 15 years, won only one municipal corporation.
CM Baghel, who has already made political appointments to keep the flock happy, hinted at a cabinet reshuffle on Monday as well, saying he would consider it if the party high command so wanted it.
However, the significant delegation of BJP in the recent elections has certainly left the party with much to think about, claimed a senior journalist from Raipur.
However, the Congress party is playing safe, taking lessons from the political setbacks in Madhya Pradesh last year. As soon as the results were declared on Thursday, the party packed the winning corporators in buses and sent them to unknown places. Sources claimed that around 300 corporators are being kept in fortified hotels and resorts where no one is allowed to approach them.
Some are said to be taken on tours to Goa and Puri so that parties like BJP and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh cannot approach them and all winning candidates are available to vote for mayoral posts. After the announcement of the results, many independents have joined the Congress party.
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