By IANS
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun efforts to garner support among party legislators and contain dissension against Chief Minister Raman Singh with an eye to the assembly polls due next year.
The party had asked all legislators to report at the party headquarters here Sunday in batches to meet Dharmendra Pradhan, national secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh, to express their opinion about the government and give suggestions on the party strategy for next year’s polls.
“A majority of party MLAs met Pradhan till late last night and it was a free and open talk on all issues including the internal rift in the party and MLAs’ long standing reservations against the chief minister,” a party MLA told IANS on condition of anonymity.
The BJP has 52 legislators in the 90-member state assembly but in recent months 20-22 of them have launched a campaign against Raman Singh for his “style of functioning”. The situation seemed out of control in July when seven dissidents rushed to Delhi and complained against Raman Singh to party president Rajnath Singh.
“A majority of MLAs focussed on the government’s careless behaviour … regarding implementation of development schemes and transfer of officials,” the MLA said.
Informed sources said Pradhan and state BJP president Vishnudev Sai acknowledged the concerns of MLAs regarding their greater participation in government development schemes being implemented in their segments.
The consultation process with legislators and party leaders of the state would continue till Wednesday.