From Cong turf, Shukla drives home message

The Chhattisgarh government was forced to eat a humble pie today when former Union minister and NCP leader V.C. Shukla managed to organise a...

The Chhattisgarh government was forced to eat a humble pie today when former Union minister and NCP leader V.C. Shukla managed to organise an impressive public rally in the Congress stronghold of Bastar a day after the district administration sent bulldozers to foil his show.

A massive turnout at his rally addressed by former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma and two other NCP leaders Tariq Anwar and Praful Patel sent out a strong signal that Shukla was in to cause some serious damage to the Congress’ poll prospects.

Today’s was Shukla’s first rally organised in the tribal belt after a series of rallies in mainly urban towns of Durg, Damtari, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Raigarh and Jangir-Champa. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to hold similar rallies in Sarguja district, a tribal region bordering Jharkhand.

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Addressing the rally, Shukla said: ‘‘We are determined to go ahead with our political mission to dislodge the corrupt Jogi government and bring a rule of law in the state’’. He predicted that his party would rout the Congress in the elections and that NCP would form the next government in the state.

Shukla claimed that his rally had received an unexpected support after the administrative action to deny permission for the rally and an attempt to demolish the platform at the venue.

Addressing the rally, Sangma took a dig at the Congress for imposing a “fake tribal” to lead the first government in Chhattisgarh. ‘‘After Jogi was booked by a Shahdol court for contesting elections on the basis of a forged caste certificate, the Congress has not the right to project itself as pro-tribal,’’ he said.

Earlier, a group of youth Congress activists, who had tried to wave black flags against Shukla, were beaten up by NCP workers and forced to beat a hasty retreat.