‘Will win over 75 seats’: Cong Chhattisgarh president on Adivasi CM, Maoism, corruption
The Bastar MP is contesting from the Chitrakoot assembly constituency.
Chhattisgarh Congress president Deepak Baij is also an MP from Bastar, and he is now contesting the assembly polls from Chitrakoot constituency.
In a conversation with Newslaundry, Baij said he was confident that Congress will win over 75 of the 90 seats in the state. In his stronghold Bastar, a Maoist belt, he said the Congress will “win all 12 seats”. “In Chhattisgarh, the BJP has already accepted its loss…will shrink to 15 seats.”
On the demand for a tribal chief minister, he said: “I don’t think at present we need it [tribal chief minister]. Our chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has done good work.”
Baij shrugged off any claims that Maoism was nearing its end in the state. “Where are we saying Maoism has ended? We said that Bastar is returning to peace…Bhupesh Baghel directly engaged in talks with them [Maoists].”
The Congress leader also spoke about the corruption allegations, ED raid, welfare schemes, the BJP’s prospects, and his transition from being a two-time MLA to an MP, and now contesting in the assembly polls again.
Watch.
This report has been published as part of the joint NL-TNM Election Fund and is supported by hundreds of readers. Click here to power our ground reports.
Support Independent Media
The media must be free and fair, uninfluenced by corporate or state interests. That's why you, the public, need to pay to keep news free.
Contribute
‘Risk, low voter turnout’: Choppers ferry poll officials in Maoist-hit Bastar
CPI’s decline in Chhattisgarh: Why some candidates are contesting as independents
Power NL-TNM Election Fund
General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans together to focus on the issues that really matter to the voter. From political funding to battleground states, media coverage to 10 years of Modi, choose a project you would like to support and power our journalism.
Ground reportage is central to public interest journalism. Only readers like you can make it possible. Will you?