Bilaspur: A month ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly election, Congress party suffered a major set back after Ram Dayal Uike, the state president joined the BJP on Saturday.

Uike joined BJP in the presence of Amit Shah and Chief Minister Raman Singh in Bilaspur.

Uike is a four-time lawmaker from Pali in Chhattisgarh.

Congress election decision-making body, chaired by Rahul Gandhi finalised the candidates for Chhattisgarh on Friday.

BJP chief Amit Shah while kicking off the campaign in Chhattisgarh on Friday asked the party workers to create an environment for a “massive wave” in favour of the party, so that the “wave” turns into a “tsunami” in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.  

18 of the 90 Assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh will vote on November 12, including the Maoist-affected Bastar and Rajnandgaon districts. The second phase of polling is on November 20. Results will be declared on December 11.