By IANS
Raipur : About a dozen Chhattisgarh legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who are detractors of Chief Minister Raman Singh failed to get the attention of party president Rajnath Singh during his two-day visit to the state that ended Saturday.
“Raman Singh was well aware that dissidents are making serious efforts to again complain against his style of functioning. That’s why he was with Rajnath Singh each minute the party president spent in Chhattisgarh,” a party source told IANS.
“The dissidents were left dejected as they could not communicate their feelings to Rajnath Singh even though he spent a night in a village in Surguja Lok Sabha constituency that is represented by Nandkumar Sai, who is actually leading the anti-Raman campaign,” the source said.
Last month, at least 22 legislators out of BJP’s 53 members in the 90-seat assembly revolted against Raman Singh. Seven of them rushed to New Delhi where Sai arranged a meeting of the rebels with Rajnath Singh.
The detractors alleged that bureaucrats were running the Chhattisgarh government as the chief minister had virtually surrendered before them.
Rajnath Singh not only kept the dissidents away from him during the trip but also praised the chief minister at a function in Korba, 220 km north of Raipur, Friday where he inaugurated a 250-mw thermal power plant.
Even while addressing party workers at the Raipur airport Friday, Rajnath Singh called upon them to get ready under Raman Singh’s leadership to retain BJP rule in assembly polls due next year.