Jogi, Raman proxy battle in Kota Assembly by-poll

Kota, Nov 29 (UNI) Amid Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh completing three years in office on December seven, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its government has high stakes in Kota Assembly by-election result, scheduled to be out on the same day, that might influence the intra-party equations within both the ruling party and the opposition Congress.

Though the 23-cornered contest in this rural constituency is mainly between Mrs Renu Jogi (Congress) and Mr Bhupendra Singh Thakur (BJP), it has turned out to be a proxy fight between Dr Raman Singh and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi as both the leaders apparently consider it as an opportunity to further strengthen their hold in their respective parties.

It is evident from the fact that the ruling BJP has mobilised all the resources at its command to wrest this traditional stronghold of the Congress, which had retained this constituency in all the 12 elections held since 1952. All the ministers in Dr Raman Singh's ministry are active in electioneering while party's other elected representatives, even from civic bodies, are camping in the villages to canvass support for BJP nominee.

Dr Raman Singh too has addressed a series of election meetings so far while his wife Mrs Veena Singh has also joined the party campaign to woo the nearly 1, 46, 278 voters, including 72331 women, who would go to the polls on December four.

Even though the outcome of by-poll is not bound to have any adverse political impact on the three-year-old Raman Singh government, it is the presence of Dr Renu Jogi, wife of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, in the fray that has forced the BJP to opt for such an aggressive campaign.

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