Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's dig at the BJP over ticket distribution for upcoming Assembly elections has triggered a war of words between the grand old party and the BJP.
Reacting to Baghel's jibe that since the BJP is talking about introducing the Gujarat model in Chattisgarh, its 14 MLAs including Raman Singh and Brijmohan may not get tickets for the 2023 Assembly elections, BJP leader Gauri Shankar Shrivas said that the Congress does not have to bother whom BJP will give the ticket and should look into the performance of its own government.
" Looking at Congress' internal report on the performance of its government, I think they should worry about themselves than about BJP's ticket distribution. The report has revealed that their ministers are MLAs are not reaching out to the common people and development has come to a grinding halt in the state. The Chief Minister should worry about such issues," said Shrivas.
Baghel indicated that those MLAs who are not performing well, may not be given tickets this time. He also said that its victory in five by-polls makes it evident that the party's performance on the ground is good, adding that the MLAs are constantly being suggestions on how to reach out to the people. " If the performance of the MLAs does not improve, then they may not get tickets this year," said Baghel.
However, political analysts are of the opinion that ticket distribution for the upcoming Assembly elections may not be an easy task for the grand old party. According to senior journalist Ramavatar Tiwari, a number of sitting Congress MLAs won in the last Assembly elections due to the Congress wave in the State but with the wave no longer there, the party may scrutinize their background and performance.
"Congress may not give tickets to about 20 to 25 sitting MLAs this time. It is not very realistic to say that those MLAs who are denied ticket will accept it silently," said Tiwari/
