Baghel trapped in ‘uncle-nephew’ fight, all eyes on Patan seat

Raipur. The hottest seat in the assembly elections being held in Chhattisgarh is Patan assembly of Durg district. Where Congress candidate and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is contesting against his nephew and BJP MP Vijay Baghel. Here Amit Jogi, son of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, is making the contest triangular. The results of this seat will decide political influence.

Bhupesh Baghel has been elected from Patan assembly constituency since 1993, before the formation of the state. But during this period he was defeated by his nephew Vijay Baghel in 2008. Since then, Patan assembly constituency became the main center of political arena.

In the last election, Bhupesh Baghel won from here and after that became the Chief Minister, this is the first election after Baghel became the Chief Minister and in this election his nephew Vijay Baghel is in front as the BJP candidate. Whereas Amit Jogi, son of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who has come into the fray as a Janata Congress candidate, has made the entire contest triangular.

According to caste mathematics, if we look at Patan Legislative Assembly seat, it is dominated by Other Backward Classes, Kurmi and Sahu voters are the highest here. Both the candidates of BJP and Congress come from Kurmi community. That is why the competition is interesting. Patan assembly elections are also important because it is going to be decided who is the leader among the two backward leaders.

Political analysts say that caste census is a big issue in the state assembly elections and Bhupesh Baghel is raising it with full force, while on the other hand BJP is not able to clear its stand. The competition here is only to get the votes of the backward classes, hence all the three candidates will not lag behind in exerting their influence.