Jolted by Ajit Jogi’s masterstroke in getting Leader of the Opposition Nand Kumar Sai’s daughter to switch camps, the BJP broke its silence at the end of the three-day national executive today and threatened to make rajnaitik dharamantaran (political conversions) an issue in the upcoming Assembly elections.Setting aside its pet issue in the state, that of religious conversions, the party has picked up the issue of ‘‘political conversions’’. Party president Venkaiah Naidu said it’s going to be ‘‘defection vs affection’’ here. ‘‘Jogi is pursuing the politics of defections, we will counter it with public affection in the polls.’’ A day after Priyam Paikra, a janpad chief in Jaspur district, joined the Congress, her father Nand Kumar Sai still claimed he doesn’t know where she is.Meanwhile, Naidu said: ‘‘We will make development an issue in the states going to polls.’’ He also tried to clear the air over the leadership issue and declared that people of Chhattisgarh will come to know about the leader before the polls. BJP state president Raman Singh, one of the party’s Chief Ministerial choice, said the issue of leadership was not material at this stage. He said he has told the Central leadership that he is not in the race for Chief Ministership. ‘‘My mission is to bring the party to power. So, I have tried to take help from everyone. I propose to take help of Babu Ram Marandi, Sanjay Paswan and Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda to strike a cord with the tribals and reach upto the booth level,’’ he said.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jogi’s Vikas Yatras, to highlight the state government’s achievements in the past 1,000 days, also started from nine places.
