Chhattisgarh: Ambikapur constituency set to witness tough BJP-Congress battle

Surguja: The Ambikapur assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh is all set to witness a tough battle, as the BJP, on Wednesday fielded Rajesh Agarwal against TS Singh Deo. The announcement was made in the BJP's fourth and final list of candidates for the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.
TS Singh Deo, while speaking to ANI about his opponent said, "Rajesh Agarwal's name was in consideration for a long time. The way he was marking his presence in the Ambikapur constituency, he must have got assurance from the party (BJP) that he would be the one contesting the upcoming elections."
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Deo further said, "It is not a new name for us, he (Rajesh Agarwal) is from Lakhanpur and he was earlier in Congress. The media personnel had recently asked me, since Rajesh is from Lakhanpur what is going to be the scenario of vote bank over there. The votes here have been associated with Congress traditionally, although it is not as if that a local person won't have any influence of himself but it is a region associated with Congress so the party will get the push."
The Chhattisgarh Deputy CM further said that if it had been any other candidate as well it would still have been a fight, "I do not consider anyone to be inferior or superior."
Talking about the battle for votes in the constituency, the Congress leader said "It will be easier for the voters to decide who can work better for them, one who they have already seen working or a new face."
"One who has been supported by people earlier will continue the work from a certain level while a new face will have to start from scratch, in such circumstances, people will consider who can represent them more efficiently in the upcoming five years," said Deo.
Meanwhile, his opponent in the Ambikapur constituency, BJP leader Rajesh Agarwal, while speaking to ANI said that BJP's victory is assured as the people in this constituency have felt a distance from current MLA TS Singh Deo.
"We are 100 per cent sure of emerging victorious as for the past five years, our party, party workers and I have always raised the demands of people through protests. We have been in constant touch with people, whereas the current Congress MLA (TS Singh Deo) got distanced from the people due to which there is resentment and disappointment among people towards him," said Rajesh.
Responding to the question of being close to TS Singh Deo, Rajesh Agarwal said "We are not considered to be close, we used to be close, I am a part of the BJP now and I have had no contact of any sort with him for the last six years."
"BJP has given me this opportunity for which I am really grateful," he added.
On being asked about the issues that BJP will be raising against Congress in Ambikapur, Rajesh Agarwal alleged that Deo had distanced himself from the people for the last 5 years.
"The current Ambikapur MLA had assured of unemployment allowance to the youth which was not fulfilled, loan waive-off assurance to 'Mahila Swayam Sahayata Samhu' was also not fulfilled and the promise of increasing the pension amount from 350 to 1000 was also not acted upon," said Rajesh.
The BJP candidate further claimed that there will be no challenge at all in the upcoming election as the BJP has been prepared for this for the last five years.
TS Singh Deo has secured three consecutive wins since 2008 in the Ambikapur assembly constituency.
The last time the BJP was able to emerge victorious in Ambikapur was in 2003 when it fielded Kamal Bhan Singh against Congress' Madan Gopal Singh.
The first phase of polling for 20 seats in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 7.
After the first phase of polling on November 7, the remaining 70 seats in the state will go to polls on November 17. The counting of votes will be done on December 3.
Elections in Chhattisgarh will be contested on 90 assembly seats and both the major contenders in the state, BJP and Congress, have released their final list of all 90 candidates in the state.