By IANS,
Raipur : About a dozen politicians suffering from high blood pressure have sought from doctors advice on how to handle poll setbacks hours before counting for Chhattisgarh’s 90-member state assembly election begins at 8 a.m. Monday.
Sources in the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the opposition Congress said that over a dozen senior leaders were nervous about the poll outcome. They apprehend their blood pressure could shoot up if the results were adverse to them.
Sources in the BJP said that state Revenue Minister Brijmohan Agrawal and Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam, in the 13-member Raman Singh ministry, consulted their doctors to keep the pressure under check if the outcome went against them.
Agrawal has contested from Raipur City South, hoping for a fifth consecutive victory while Netam has chosen Ramanujganj seat, reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST), to enter the assembly for the fourth time in a row.
Political analysts say Agrawal will easily overcome the challenge from state youth Congress president Yogesh Tiwari. But Netam is locked in a tough battle against a seasoned Congress politician Brihaspati Singh in Surguja district. Both the BJP leaders are high blood pressure patients.
Sources in the Congress say that tribal leader Mahendra Karma, who is also Leader of the Opposition, has also sought the help of doctors.
Karma expects to score a hat-trick from the tribal constituency of Dantewada and is locked in a tough triangular contest with Communist Party of India nominee Manish Kunjam and BJP candidate Bheema Mandavi.