Raipur, October 22
Amidst presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Chhattisgarh, Central Election Committee of the party on Monday announced six contestants, including name of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla who has been fielded against incumbent Chief Minister Raman Singh in high-profile Rajnandgaon assembly constituency, for coming assembly elections in the state.
Names of other candidates include Girwar Janghel from Khairagarh constituency, Bhuneshwar Singh Baghel (in SC reserved Dongargarh), Daleshwar Sahu (Dongargaon), Channi Sahu (Khujji) and Indra Shah Mandavi (ST reserved Mohla-Manpur).
A former MP from Janjgir lok sabha, Shukla had left BJP ahead of polls in 2013 and later joined Congress. Shukla had contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket from Bilaspur and face defeat to BJP’s Lakhanlal Sahu with huge margin of around 1.76 lakh votes. In 2009, Shukla had contested lok Sabha elections on BJP ticket from Korba seat and lost to Charandas Mahant of Congress.
After leaving BJP, Shukla turned active in Rajnandgaon and spotted openly speaking against the ruling party and Raman Singh-led government.
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