Hours after the shock and humiliation of the Dilip Singh Judeo expose, the BJP today put up a brave face and said that Judeo would still lead its campaign in Chhattisgarh from December 1. It said that though Judeo would take on Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, he would not be its chief ministerial candidate anymore. Union Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh, who reached here today, said that though Judeo had resigned, ‘‘he will campaign more vigorously for the party’’. Meanwhile, redrafting its strategy, the party today withheld the release of its manifesto in order to make changes to the document and to make its campaign more Jogi-centric. This came about after Jogi went on a major offensive against the BJP and demanded Judeo’s resignation. He also demanded that criminal charges be framed against Judeo for bribery. With Judeo’s resignation the BJP hopes to avoid much of its losses which it would have suffered in urban towns. ‘‘Judeo was eager to resign yesterday, but was told to hold on till Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee returned. Today, he sits among us with strong conviction of his innocence after sacrificing his ministerial post,’’ Rajnath Singh said. Meanwhile, with Jogi firing salvoes at the BJP over the Judeo case, the BJP’s strategy now will be to prove that it is actually Jogi who, after the CBI’s charge-sheet and registration of a criminal case against him in a Shahdol court, should have resigned rather than being in the electoral fray. But the BJP’s problem is different. It was because of a factional war that the party could not declare its chief ministerial candidate. Infact, except for Judeo — whose image has now suffered a dent — the BJP has no leader who enjoys a state-wide appeal. This is not a problem for Jogi who, despite the presence of stalwarts like S.C. Shukla and Moti Lal Vora, remains in full command of the Congress campaign. Sources said that since Judeo happens to be the only leader with a state-wide appeal, the party’s decision to stand by him is more out of compulsion. His ghar-vapsi abhiyan will also be projected as a novel cause among the adivasis and Dalits. The two other contenders for the chief minister’s post — Raman Singh and Ramesh Bais — who had never wanted Judeo’s over-projection are also likely to stand by him. Today, after a marathon meeting at the party headquarters came out with accusations against the Congress of making a mockery of the country’s democratic norms. The party also plans to convert the defections engineered by Jogi into a poll issue.
