Chhattisgarh Times Raipur: The ruling BJP and the Congress is facing a tough time in selecting its candidate for the Raipur North constituency because of too many aspirants for ticket. The situation is such that the BJP had declared its candidates for all but one seat of Raipur North that goes to polls in the second phase on November 20.
BJP has declared its 89 candidates so far and exercise is going on to narrow down on a suitable candidate. Raipur North’s sitting legislator Shrichand Sundrani, Raipur Development Authority chairperson Sanjay Srivastava and former Mayor of Raipur Municipal Corporation Sunil Soni are among the potential aspirants from the BJP. Similarly, Raipur Mayor Pramod Dubey, former MLA Ramesh Varlyani and another former MLA of Raipur North Kuldeep Juneja are apparently vying for a Congress ticket.
Sindhi community has rallied in support for a Sindhi candidate from North constituency and has mounted pressure on the BJP to field one of its members. In the 2008 elections, Kuldeep Juneja won the seat for the Congress, defeating BJP’s Sachidanand Upasane while in 2013 BJP’s Shrichand Sunderani won the seat for party, defeating Kuldeep Juneja.
Amar Parwani, a former president of Chhattisgarh Chamber of commerce, is also said to be in the race for a BJP ticket.
In the Congress too, this seems to be a bone of contention. Congress is yet to finalise the names of its candidates for Raipur North and Raipur South as the party considers it as crucial seats. Indications are that the congress may field Ruchir Garg, a journalist who recently joined the Congress, from Raipur South to take on senior BJP leader and agriculture minister Brijmohan Agrawal.
A section of senior Congress leader was apparently in favour in Raipur mayor Pramod Dubey contesting against the minister from the South constituency in the state capital. However, Dubey seemed to be reluctant.
