BJP likely to field Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon seat

NEW DELHI: Former Chhattisgarh chief minister and BJP national vice-president Raman Singh is likely to contest the assembly elections again as the party leadership is gearing up to announce another list of candidates for the state.
“Singh is a senior leader and the party leadership has conveyed its desire that he should contest the polls,” a party source said.
Singh, the longest-serving CM of Chhattisgarh, who was in office for three consecutive terms from 2003 to 2018, is likely to be fielded from Rajnandgaon seat, where he is the incumbent MLA, party sources said.
Although BJP lost the assembly polls in 2018 when Singh was CM, sources said he was the face of the party for a long time and the saffron outfit was keen to utilise his experience and also appeal in a section of voters.
The latest central elec tion committee meeting of BJP took place on October 1 during which leaders are learnt to have discussed candidates for Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
The party has named three Union ministers in Madhya Pradesh — Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Prahlad Patel — an exercise likely to be replicated in poll-bound states Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
Party insiders said the plan to field senior leaders was to capitalise on their prominence and wrest seats where it has a history of struggle and defeat.