Mrs Jogi alleges persecution against her family members

Raipur, Mar 21 (UNI) Congress legislator Renu Jogi, wife of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, has alleged that the BJP government was 'persecuting' her family ever since it came to power nearly four years ago.

''They are using innovative methods to persecute and tarnish the image of my family,'' she told UNI after the sessions court granted bail to former chief minister Ajit Jogi in a private complaint case related to the murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader Ram Avatar Jaggi in June 2003.

Mrs Jogi, who was elected to the Vidhan Sabha in a by-election late last year, said her husband was arrested while he was busy campaigning for the Lok Sabha by-election in Rajnandgaon.

''Neither he is a terrorist nor he can run away. Still a large number of policemen first cordoned off and arrested him after an election meeting,'' she alleged.

''It was a conspiracy to keep him out of the electioneering scene in Rajnandgaon where the ruling BJP has high political stakes,'' she said, adding that this became clear after the special public prosecuter, while opposing the bail of Mr Jogi, argued in the court that he should be restrained from visiting Rajnandgaon.

''Even when I was contesting the by-poll from Kota, some political advertisements had appeared in the media, ridiculing my husband by using his caricatures,'' she said, adding that despite such campaign she had won the polls by an impressive margin.

She alleged that the BJP had unleashed a similar campaign against Mr Jogi when he was contesting the Lok Sabha election from Mahasamund.

UNI