The Third Front will have no impact in Chhattisgarh, where it’s a fight between the BJP and Congress How important is the Third Front? The Third Front will have no impact in Chhattisgarh, where the contest is only between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, but, yes, this political force will have some impact on the national scenario. This cannot be denied.
How would you rate the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the present political context where new alliances are emerging? The UPA is disintegrating. The UPA allies are contesting separately in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand. When this alliance cannot fight elections together, how will these parties come together after the elections? The UPA has lost credibility. It is also important to realise that the Congress is no more a winning party as a result of which, its allies are jumping off the bandwagon.
In comparison, the NDA has retained most of its allies and will definitely come to power at the Centre. Of course, the role of the regional parties will be equally important.
You won the Assembly elections in November last year on the plank of development. Local issues may not matter that much in a Lok Sabha election. How are you reaching out the people this time? Development will continue to be the issue at the local level. The people realise that it was the BJP-led NDA government that created Chhattisgarh and [are aware of] the kind of development that took place in the past five years. This time also, there are several attractive schemes spelt out in the BJP manifesto and the incidents of terrorism that the country saw in the past five years are still fresh in the minds of the people.
How important is it for you and the State BJP to repeat the performance in the Assembly election? The effort will certainly be to win all 11 seats this time as against the 10 in 2004 [Lok Sabha] election. Circumstances have also changed after the Assembly elections as people have been keenly watching the BJP’s performance.
The people are disappointed and dissatisfied with the UPA. The Central government did nothing for the State in the past five years. It was not even on their list of priorities. On the other hand, the BJP announced several schemes for the State recently such as additional bonus for farmers, interest free agricultural loans, and food security. Chhattisgarh is the only State where the food security scheme has actually been implemented and reached the people it was meant for.
In which seats do you face a challenge? Which need more attention? The fight is on in all the seats but the presence of the Jogis has made Bilaspur high profile. I have no doubts about our candidate Dilip Singh Judev’s capacity to win. His workers are also putting in their best but maybe we need to focus here. I honestly think Mr. Judev is way ahead of his opponent.
The BJP did well in previous elections primarily because of massive support it received in the tribal dominated belts of Bastar and Sarguja. Do you expect their support this time also? We won only 11 seats of the 12 in Bastar region in the Assembly elections, but this time it is going to be a clean sweep.
