Challenge of saving legacy before Jogi family
Raipur. The family of Chhattisgarh’s first Chief Minister Ajit Jogi faces the challenge of saving the legacy in this election. Three members of this family are in the fray as candidates of Chhattisgarh Janata Congress. Probably, this will be the only family in this election whose three members are contesting in the political field.
Chhattisgarh came into existence in the year 2000 after being separated from Madhya Pradesh and Ajit Jogi was made the Chief Minister when Congress had more number of MLAs.
Later, Ajit Jogi’s distance from Congress increased and he formed Chhattisgarh Janata Congress. Now Ajit is no more a Jogi but his family members are engaged in carrying forward his political legacy. Voting for 90 assembly seats in the state is to be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Three members of Janata Congress are trying their luck in these elections – Amit Jogi from Patan, Renu Jogi from Kota and Richa Jogi from Akaltara. If we look at the politics of the state, on one hand the political status of the Jogi family is decreasing and on the other hand its vote bank is also being affected. At present, among these three members, only Renu Jogi is an MLA and she is once again contesting from Kota seat.
In the last elections, Janata Congress had won five places by securing more than seven and a half percent votes. But after the death of Ajit Jogi and Devvrat Singh, by-elections were held and Janata Congress had to face defeat at both the places. Not only this, two MLAs Dharamjit Singh and Pramod Sharma separated, now the Kota seat is represented by Renu Jogi.
Thus, among all the candidates fielded by Janata Congress in this election, there is only one MLA. Political analysts believe that the Jogi family has influence among the tribal class and due to this the public recognizes Congress as the third force in the state. But this is an election in which the Jogi family will have to realize their strength and also have to show that they still have the public base, this is a big challenge.
