Chhattisgarh polls: Ajit Jogi’s wife could be Congress candidate

New Delhi: While the leader of the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi joined hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party and Communist Party of India to queer the pitch for the Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, his wife, Dr Renu Jogi, could well be a Congress candidate from Kota Assembly segment in the state. Incidentally, Mr Jogi's daughter-in-law, Richa Jogi’s name has been anounced as a BSP candidate for the forthcoming polls.  

Sources close to the Jogi clan revealed that Dr Renu Jogi continues to be the member of the Congress and has not yet resigned from the party.  While the father-son duo of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and Amit Jogi had a falling out with the Congress high command and were expelled for anti party activities for six years in 2016. However, Dr Renu Jogi is understood to have maintained an independent relationship with party leadership and served the entire term and is also learnt to be keen on representing the Congress in the constituency again.

It is learnt that the Congress, which is caught in a triangular fight in the state is now considering giving her a party ticket from Kota constiuency, an assembly segment which she had represented in the outgoing house. Sources stated that the Congress' move to offer Jogi’s wife a party ticket is an attempt to keep doors open for a post-poll alliance with the former party man. who had served as the first CM of the state.

Interestingly, Ajit Jogi has already announced that he will not contest the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state.    

Out of a total 90 Assembly segments in Chhattisgarh, the JCC is contesting a total of 55 seats, while the BSP will be contesting 33 seats. The coalition has agreed to allocate two seats - Sukma and Dantewada in the Naxal afected Bastar region - to the CPI. The state is scheduled to go to polls on November 12 and November 20 while the declartion of results is on December 11.