The political legacy of late Ajit Jogi – the first chief minister and a popular leader of Chhattisgarh – seems all but over as a social media post of his son Amit Jogi, who is the president of the Janta Congress formed by Jogi senior, has hinted that his family might stay away from the Assembly polls of 2023.
With this, the political future of the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (Jogi), which had emerged the third front in 2018 Assembly polls, seems quite bleak.
Amit Jogi took to social media on Saturday to say that the health of mother Renu Jogi (MLA from Kota constituency) was far more important than political power in Chhattisgarh, which indicated that family members or the party might not contest the upcoming polls.
“People ask why JCCJ (Janta Congress) is doing nothing, though only seven months is left for Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. Politics can never be bigger than life. After losing my father late Mr. Ajit Jogi ji, my mother's health is far more paramount than gaining power in Chhattisgarh and until she is fully healthy I will be with her like a shadow. It's unfortunate that I couldn't be with Papa in his last moments. I can't repeat this mistake with mommy. That's why my first aim is that my mother regains health. There is always the rest of life to do politics,” Jogi’s post with a picture of Renu Jogi and himself with an ailing Ajit Jogi in hospital, said.
Janta Congress, Chhattisgarh, was formed in 2016 after the Jogi father-son duo was expelled from the Congress for anti-party activities. In the 2018 polls, though it created some pre-poll ripples mainly on the accord of political strength of founder Ajit Jogi, the new party could manage to win just five seats while alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats.
However with the death of Jogi in May 2020, the party started floundering under Amit Jogi who hardly has any part of the charisma of his late father. Of the four remaining MLAs, senior leader Devwrat Singh (MLA of Khairagarh) passed away in November 2021. The ruling Congress won both the Marwahi seat held by late Ajit Jogi and Khairagarh seat in the bypolls emphatically.
JCCJ could not contest polls in Marwahi seat reserved for scheduled tribes (ST) after the nomination papers of both Amit Jogi and his wife Richa Jogi were rejected on the ground that a high power committee had found their tribal caste certificate questionable. Just days before elections, Amit Jogi has announced support to the BJP. The caste certificate issue is yet to be resolved, thus putting a question mark on Amit Jogi’s future in electoral politics.
The downslide for the party continued as another senior leader Dharamjit Singh (MLA of Lormi), who had been raising questions on handling of party affairs, was expelled in September 2022 for anti-party activities. The party is thus officially left with only two MLAs of which Renu Jogi is seriously ailing and the Baloda Bazar MLA Pramod Kumar Sharma had openly supported Dharamjit Singh after the latter’s expulsion. There are strong speculations that ahead of the 2023 polls, Sharma might join the ruling Congress.
In such a situation, despite a press statement by JCCJ spokesperson Bhagwanu Nayak that no such indication should be read into Amit Jogi’s post and that the party will contest polls under his (Jogi’s) leadership, there are widespread speculations that the JCCJ might officially stay away from the 2023 polls, thus marking the party’s probable end.
With the Bahujan Samaj Party, too, in a weak condition in the state, the third front space looks vacated clearly for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is making inroads into the tribal state. The AAP has shown intention to contest all the 90 seats in the state, though political watchers feel that the party might just play the vote-splitter in the Assembly polls. Interestingly, there is a feeling that the AAP might cause more damage to the BJP than the Congress as it has no hold among the ST and SC voters who comprise about 44 per cent of the vote-base.
