Congress fields Vajpayee's niece to rein in Atal wave'

Raipur: It sounded odd to pollsters when the Congress chose to pit Karuna Shukla, niece of BJP patriarch and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, against three-time chief minister Raman Singh in the latter’s bastion in Rajnandgaon Assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh for the November 12 polls.

For, many were anticipating an epic battle in the high-profile constituency when the Congress had deliberately created a suspense over its candidate by not making her name public till October 22, a day before the filing of nominations ended for the first phase of elections in the state.

“The hype ended in a whimper after Congress opened its card by deciding to pit Ms Shukla against the chief minister,” Raipur-based political analyst Jitendra Chandrakar observed, fearing it may finally end up as “titan vs minnow” battle in the Rajnandgaon seat.

His apprehensions were based on the premise that 68-year-old Ms Shukla was an outsider to the constituency whereas the chief minister who is seeking re-election in the constituency for the third time in a row, is well entrenched in his bastion.

Congress’ choice of candidate to take on “mighty” Raman Singh has even taken the ruling the BJP by surprise.

“Ms Shukla is absolutely no match for chief minister. She has been made a sacrificial goat by the senior Congress leaders here,” BJP spokesman Sanjay Srivastav told this newspaper.

Surprisingly, the Congress seemed unfazed over criticism in some quarters that the Opposition party has virtually given a walkover to the chief minister by putting Ms Shukla against him.

“It was a conscious decision by the party taken two and a half months ago following death of former PM Vajpayee on August 16,” said aleader.

“We were expecting the move by the BJP to whip up a sympathy wave for it in at least three poll-bound states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the aftermath of the demise of the saffron icon. Hence, we have chalked out a strategy to foil any attempt by the BJP to trigger an ‘Atal wave’ during elections following the development. Ms Shukla’s nomination against the chief minister was part of it,” a senior Congress leader of Chhattisgarh, member of the party’s thinktank, told this newspaper.

Accordingly, the party had tried to stir public sentiment against BJP by pushing the narrative through Ms Shukla that the saffron outfit had neglected Mr Vajpayee when he was alive.

The recent “raid” by Ms Shukla in the state BJP headquarters in Raipur accompanied by Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhupesh Baghel to “retrieve” the urns containing ashes of the late PM was part of the strategy, sources disclosed.

The BJP, however, could see through the Congress’s design and soon came out with a clarification that soils from different places in Chhattisgarh have been collected and preserved in the urns, not the ashes of the late leader, in order to build a memorial for him in Raipur.

Ms Shukla began her political career with the BJP in 1980 and was considered an arch rival of the chief minister till she quit the party in 2013.

She has exuded confidence that she would give the chief minister a run for his money in the elections.

“I am a challenge to the chief minister and not the vice versa,” said Ms Shukla who quit the BJP to join Congress a few weeks before the November 2013 Assembly elections after being denied party ticket.

“I will emerge as a giant killer by defeating the chief minister,” she added,  vowing to expose alleged omissions and commissions in the Raman Singh government during her electioneering.

As per the Congress’s strategy, she is scheduled to campaign intensively for Congress in other Assembly seats after elections in Rajnandgaon seat are over on November 12 so that public sympathy for Vajpayee can benefit the Congress .

Congress spokesman S.N. Trivedy said, “Congress has nominated her not to give merely a tough fight to the chief minister but to defeat him decisively.”

Chief minister Raman Singh, however, has earlier dismissed any threat to him by Ms Shukla in the polls, saying, “Congress has fielded an outsider because the party could not find a suitable candidate to match me in the constituency.”