‘Govt schemes may help Congress win in Chhattisgarh’

‘With the govt’s focus on agriculture, people associated with the sector are likely to vote for Bhupesh Baghel’.

NEW DELHI: The Congress in Chhattisgarh has consolidated its political standing in the state. With the government’s agriculture friendly policies, the people are going to vote back the Congress to power, according to research by a Congress leaning organisation, accessed by The Sunday Guardian.
According to the research, the most impact on the state’s electorate will be had from the government’s Godhan Nyay Yojana (GNY) which was intended to provide income support to cattle owners through procurement of dung. Under the Yojana, the Bhupesh Baghel government had started buying cow dung from cattle-rearers and farmers at Rs 2 per kg rate.
Following the success of the scheme, the government launched cow urine procurement scheme as an expansion of the same scheme, under which the state government started procuring cow urine at a minimum rate of Rs 4 per litre for making pesticides and organic fertilisers. Chief Minister Baghel had said recently, “In the last two years, more than Rs 300 crore have been transferred to the bank accounts of cow dung sellers, gauthan committees and women SHGs under that scheme.” The total population of the state is around 2.55 crore, of which about 70% population is engaged in agriculture. Political analysts believe that with the government’s focus on agriculture, people associated with the sector are likely to vote for Baghel. Aditya Rathi, a political researcher who has conducted several internal researches in various states, said, “Government schemes will have a big impact on the Chhattisgarh electorate this time, thus making the Congress strong in the state. We may draw an analogy with Gujarat. The way the BJP is strong and indomitable in Gujarat, the same way Congress has become strong in Chhattisgarh due to Bhupesh Baghel.”