By IANS,
Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and the majority of his 13-member council of ministers will intensify campaigning for the May 8 Bastar Lok Sabha constituency by-poll, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources said Monday.
The polls are being held as BJP tribal leader and sitting MP, Baliram Kashyap, died last month.
The party organisation has advised Raman Singh and the ministers to step up campaigning after April 30 to ensure that the party comfortably retains the reserved tribal seat.
The chief minister addressed a public meeting in Bastar earlier this month.
Bastar is one of the worst Maoist-hit constituencies of the country. The rebels have a strong presence in about 80 percent of the forested region.
There are eight candidates in the fray for the seat, but the main contest is between BJP’s Dinesh Kashyap, Baliram’s son, and the Congress party’s Kawasi Lakhma, who is the legislator of Konta, one of the eight assembly seats that make up the Bastar parliamentary constituency.