Tribal leaders being marginalised in BJP, says Jogi

Raipur, July 3 (UNI) Tribal leaders in Bharatiya Janata Party are being marginalised in Chhattisgarh, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi said today.

In a press release issued here, he said removing senior tribal leader Nankiram Kanwar from the 43-month-old Dr Raman Singh ministry was a part of the BJP's conspiracy to shunt out tribal leaders one by one from political mainstream.

Reacting to yesterday's cabinet reshuffle, Mr Jogi said the BJP began this exercise even before the last assembly elections when it forced senior tribal leader Nandkumar Sai, the then leader of the opposition, to contest against him in Marwahi constituency.

''The BJP did not allow Mr Sai to contest from his traditional Tapkara constituency,'' he alleged, adding that soon after BJP won the assembly elections another tribal leader Baliram Kashyap's name was dragged into a political controversy.

The Congress leader said similarly another senior tribal leader Shivpratap Singh was removed from the post of state BJP president, apparently after the then party chief began exercising his authority in the organisation.

Mr Jogi said now Mr Nankiram Kanwar, seniormost tribal leader within BJP and an experienced minister, has been dropped from the cabinet.

UNI