R Krishna Das
Chhattisgarh is again slipping into a bi-polar politics, literally, as the third front is on the verge of fading its colours in the state’s political landscape.
The development taking place in the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC), founded by Chhattisgarh’s first chief minister late Ajit Jogi, makes it a solid ground. On Sunday, JCC expelled its legislature party leader and party’s powerful mass leader Dharamjeet Singh from the party for six years for allegedly ignoring the interests of SC, ST, and OBC communities.
After Jogi’s death in May 2020, his son Amit and wife Renu have been managing the political affairs of the JCC.
With the expulsion of Dharamjit Singh, only two MLAs are now left in the party including Renu Jogi. The other MLA, Pramod Sharma has also raised revolt against the leadership. He is waiting for action from the party to shield himself from getting disqualified from the legislative assembly.
The indications are clear that JCC will soon be a single MLA party in Chhattisgarh where it polled 7.6 per cent votes in 2018 elections. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been its ally in Chhattisgarh and has won two seats in the last elections. With its 3.9 per cent vote share, the JCC-BSP has emerged as the third front.
Both the parties are now on the verge of collapse. After the demise of Ajit Jogi, the family members failed to keep the house in order while BSP has made no effort to consolidate its political position.
Ajit Jogi and Devrat Singh were the other two MLAs elected in 2018. The JCC lost both Marwahi and Khairagarh where by-polls were necessitated following their demise. “The results indicated the sharp decline in JCC’s popularity that has demoralised the party workers,” political observers said. It has propelled the workers to switch over; Dharamjit and Pramod likely to join the saffron camp.
The leaders lashing out at Amit Jogi is also defaming the JCC face. Dharamjit Singh openly castigated Amit Jogi and even feared for his life.
The corridor of power is buzzed with the rumour that JCC would merge into parent Congress party given Renu Jogi’s rapport with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But political observers said it would not be an easy affair as Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel would be dead against the merger. Jogis parted away from Congress only because of strong differences with Baghel.
Following the political fate of JCC under the lens and the deteriorating base of BSP, AAP is trying to make an entry and fill the space. But given its 2018 performance, the party has to play a big card with just a year left for the elections. In 2018, AAP fielded its candidate in 85 out of 90 constituencies. In most of the seats, its candidates could not even get votes in four figures.
The unfolding political development in Chhattisgarh makes a strong point that the 2023 state polls in Chhattisgarh are likely to witness a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP. Even if JCC fails to merge into Congress, it will not be in a position to emerge as a strong third front in the state.
