Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: Trouble mounts for BJP, Congress as CPI teams up with BSP, Ajit Jogi's CJC

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: After forging alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (CJC) led by former CM Ajit Jogi has also announced a pre-poll tie up with the Communist Party of India (CPI) for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. The alliance was announced by Jogi and CPI state secretary RDCP Rao during a press conference in state capital Raipur on Sunday. As per the alliance agreement, CPI will be given two seats to contest in south Bastar — Dantewada and Konta — where the party has considerable presence. Both these seats go to polls on November 12. The Chhattisgarh Assembly polls will be held in two phases -- on November 12 and 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 11. Jogi said the addition of CPI to the JCC (J)-BSP alliance had made it a "mahagatbandhan" (grand alliance), boosting its poll prospects in the Bastar region and in places with a high number of labourers. Further speaking about the tie-up with CPI, Rao said that the aim of the alliance is to form a government which will work in the interest of Dalits, adivasis, the poor, villagers, farmers, labourers and minorities, and take decisions for the welfare of the people of Chhattisgarh. He has alleged that over 50 per cent of the state's population continued to live below the poverty line despite 15 years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. Earlier, the BSP had forged an alliance with Jogi's outfit. According to the poll alliance agreement, the BSP will contest 35 seats, while the JCCJ will fight the remaining 55 seats in the 90-member Assembly, reported news agency PTI. Under the agreement, the JCC(J)-BSP will support CPI candidates in Konta and Dantewada, while the Left party and affiliated labour unions will campaign for the former's candidates in Chitrakot and Bijapur in Bastar division and in industrial areas like Korba and Bhilai Nagar, CJC chief informed. In the 2013 assembly polls, the CPI had garnered just 0.66 per cent of the votes cast and had lost in all the 13 seats it had contested. Rao, however, said his party had a significant presence in the Bastar region, particularly in Dantewada and Konta seats, from where it has fielded its popular leaders Nandaram Sodhi and Manish Kunjam respectively for the upcoming polls.