Team News Riveting
Raipur, July 15
Janta Congress Chhattisgarh Chief and former legislator Amit Jogi today met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar, who is now in the political centerstage of the country.
A day before, Pawar’s name figured for the Presidential election that he categorically denied. He has been projected as the brain behind assembling the opposition parties under a common umbrella to take on BJP and Narendra Modi in 2024. In the present political scenario, Pawar has emerged as a powerful alternative.
Son of Chhattisgarh’s first Chief Minister and JCC founder late Ajit Jogi, Amit today called on Pawar at his residence. “Today I met NCP Supremo, presented him Ajit Jogi’s autobiography besides bell metal and ‘gamcha’ made by Chhattisgarh artists, and sought his blessings,” Amit Jogi said in a tweet.
The NCP leader however did not elaborate on the meeting. But insiders said the duo had discussed the political situation in Chhattisgarh ruled by NCP’s ally in Maharashtra, the Congress.
However, the rift between NCP and Congress had started spilling out in the open as Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole yesterday hinted that his party would go to the polls alone.
The meeting between Sharad Pawar and Amit Jogi had political significance as the NCP had been desperate to consolidate its base in Chhattisgarh’s political landscape. Amit Jogi’s party could provide the platform.
In 2003, NCP had even one representative in the legislative assembly. But its base continuously contracted in the state polls held thereafter. In the 2018 assembly election, NCP contested in 12 assembly constituencies and performed badly to bag just 0.20 per cent vote share.
JCC contested in 57 seats, winning five by sharing 7.61 per cent votes polled.
