Polls suggest it's a tight contest and Raman Singh and the BJP are going to fight hard to win a coveted third term, facing down the usual challenge of anti-incumbency bias. Rupa Subramanya reports
Concerned over spurt in Naxal violence, Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai will arrive in Raipur on Monday on a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh during which he will take stock of the security situation, redeployment of paramilitary forces and visit some worst Maoist-hit areas.
Former bureaucrat Nirmala Buch, who had mediated on behalf of Chhattisgarh government with Maoists for the release of Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, on Saturday said the Raman Singh government may free Naxalites in the coming days and has "no hidden agenda" in doing so.
Baghel led from the front to take on the BJP, led by Raman Singh, after being entrusted the task to revive the Congress' fortunes in Chhattisgarh following the third consecutive defeat in the 2013 assembly polls.
"It happens in a crowd, and the old and women face difficulties," Singh told reporters in Raipur when his attention was drawn to reports of police kicking an aged man on his face and caning villagers in Ajaib Nagar, 525 km from Raipur.
Chhattisgarh government on Monday decided to ban Naxalite organisations in the state, 2 days after a landmine blast triggered by them, left 23 security personnel dead.
With the Maoists forwarding their demands in exchange for the release of Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has reportedly convened a high-level meeting to decide on the future course of action. The Chhattisgarh government has set up a cabinet sub-committee to deal with the situation arising out of Menon's abduction by the Maoists.
The Apex court had in its order slammed the Chhattisgarh government for using tribals as Special Police Officers in its Salwa Judum counter-insurgency operation against the Maoists. It also asked the central government to ensure that its finances are not used for funding SPOs.
Amid controversy over a recent Naxal encounter in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday urged political parties not to politicise the issue. "The Bijapur encounter was not a planned encounter. Such issues should not be politicised," Singh told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Favouring a coordinated strategy at the national level, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that terrorism and naxalism have to be dealt with tough hands.
Opposing the setting up of anti-terror body National Counter Terrorism Centre in its present form, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday said it violates the federal structure of the Constitution. The chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state said that the NCTC should be ratified by Parliament to make it responsible and answerable to people.
A day after 27 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in a Naxal ambush in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, Chief Minister Raman Singh called an emergency meeting to discuss anti-naxal strategies on Wednesday.
The Union government has ordered the complete withdrawal of the counter-terrorist commando force NSG from VIP security duties and handing over its nine "high-risk" VIPs to the CRPF by next month, official sources said Wednesday.
Chan Chowdhry, the industrialist who owns an engineering firm in London, made the announcement at a meeting of investors convened by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in Raipur on Wednesday night.
Congress has pushed Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to counter the development theory of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.
In an embarrassment to the ruling party, two of its sitting ministers lost and six were trailing.
The Bharatiya Janata Party alleges that outgoing chief minister Ajit Jogi offer its legislators money to defect.
The final rites of Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh, who were killed in the Naxal attack on Saturday, were performed with state honours at their native village Nandeli in Raigarh district on Monday.
After an all-party meeting boycotted by the Congress, Chhattishgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday said his government is working on a comprehensive short and medium-term plan to deal with Naxalism and asked the state's main opposition to help the administration in the task.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday urged Maoists to shun violence and come to the negotiation table. "We have not stopped the process of dialogue with Naxals. It should go forward because the issue can be resolved only through dialogue and not by getting involved in an arms ace," he told reporters.
While sixteen bodies have been recovered, seven are still trapped in the anti-landmine vehicle.
Shekhar Dutt's resignation has sparked a debate on the parameters of removing a governor.
In the wake of the 12-day hostage crises that ended after the release of Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday sought a national policy to deal with such situations. "There has to be a national policy to deal with hostage crises. I will ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in tomorrow's meeting to call all chief ministers to discuss it. There is a need to discuss it briefly," Singh told reporters.
The Chhattisgarh government will take up reconstruction of houses and provide basic needs, like hospital, school and community centres, in the villages it proposes to adopt, Chief Minister Raman Singh said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has ordered magisterial probe into the incident and has directed the Durg collector Subrat Sahu in this regard, they said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Agriculture Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar had a providential escape in Korba district as a speeding train came on to the tracks as their convoy was about to cross the railway level crossing.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
Heart burn over ticket distributions may singe ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's hands in forming the next government in Chhattisgarh even as the party basks in the glory of the 'gentleman' image of its Chief Minister Raman Singh.In a veiled admission of the damage potential of the party rebels, National Vice President of the BJP and Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Jangir in the state Karuna Shukla told PTI, "Rebels damage all political parties."
"I have heard about the Supreme Court's order and the state respects it. We are consulting legal experts on this issue," Chief Minister Raman Singh told reporters in Raipur. To a query, he said the Salwa Judum was a "self-movement" and not started by the government. Home Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar too echoed Singh's sentiments and said further action cannot be taken without legal advice
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched 35 crop varieties with special traits -- developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) -- to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition. The new crop varieties were dedicated to the nation through a video conference organised at all ICAR institutes, state and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vighyan Kendra. According to the PMO, 35 crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient-content have been developed in 2021.
Though the bill providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies is yet to get nod from major political parties, Chhattisgarh polls show that reservation to women in Bharatiya Janata Party cadre has led to more women getting the party ticket.
Tandon breathed his last at the state-run Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Hospital where he was rushed on Tuesday morning after he complained of uneasiness, the governor's secretary, Surendra Kumar Jasiwal said.
Ahead of the state assembly elections due this year-end, Baghel made as many as 15 announcements in his address during the state-level Independence Day function at the Police Parade ground in Raipur.
With the party fielding three Union ministers, besides four other MPs, as candidates in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, it may continue with the strategy in Rajasthan.
Emphasising that Naxalism is not the concern of a single state, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday said a concerted national strategy needs to be drawn up to combat the menace. "The country must now rise above the constriction that this (Naxal problem) is the concern of any single state. We have been advocating a concerted national strategy to combat it," he said while addressing the meeting of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave Modi's aggressive campaign ahead of the assembly election for the party's performance.
Launching a blistering attack on Raman Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Chhattisgarh over law and order situation, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday reminded people of the May 25 Maoist ambush in Bastar that had wiped out almost the entire Congress leadership.
The audio tape suggested financial inducement behind the Congress candidate withdrawing from fray in an assembly bypoll last year.
Nine MLAs will be sworn in as ministers at the Raj Bhavan at 11:45am, Sai told reporters on Thursday.
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