With days left for Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, the ruling Congress and opposition BJP have ramped up campaigns in the state. While Rahul Gandhi is already touring the state, promising free education to students from kindergarten to post-graduation, the BJP has brought in party president J P Nadda to heat its campaign in the state on Sunday.
Naddha has two public meetings and three road shows planned on Sunday, a party functionary said. The party president arrived at Swami Vivekananda Airport on Saturday evening and went to Kushabhau Thakre Parisar, the Bharatiya Janata Party's state headquarters.
"The BJP president held a meeting with the party's core committee members of some Assembly constituencies. He will listen to the Prime Minister's 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme in Amlidih area of the capital on Sunday at 11 am. Nadda will then leave for Dongargarh Assembly constituency in Rajnandgaon district to address a public meeting at 12 noon," he said.
He will later hold road rallies in Khairagarh, Chhuikhadan and Gandai towns before addressing another public meeting in Pandariya constituency at 4 pm, PTI quoted the BJP functionary said.
The BJP is hoping to cash in on the anti-incumbency against the sitting MLAs but could also rake up tribal conversion and Hindutva issues to gain votes, according to political analysts.
Aiming to reverse the disastrous show during the 2018 elections, the saffron party has implemented its trend of fielding MPs in Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. Sitting MPs Vijay Baghel, who is challenging his uncle and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, and three other MPs are in the fray this time.
The Congress, on the other hand, hopes to benefit from the good governance it claims to have carried out in the state. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is currently touring the state and will address more rallies in the state on Sunday, including at Rajnandgaon and Kawardha constituencies. He had also offered to conduct a caste census will be conducted in the country if the Congress is voted to power (at the Centre).
In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress recorded a landslide mandate, winning 68 seats of the 90 seats while the BJP finished a distant second at just 15 seats.
