Vijay Bhagel- The kurmi Rival To Bhupesh Baghel (image-instagram/vijaybaghelcg)
Patan constituency witnessed one of the striking campaigns between the uncle and nephew during state assembly election in Chhattisgarh. And this wasn’t the first time the Baghel’s has come face to face. The Bhupesh Baghel, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh contested against Vijay in the last three elections of 2003, 2008 and 2013.
Unfortunately, Vijay was only able to win once in 2008 against his uncle with a margin of 7,842. Vijay Baghel is the current Lok Sabha member of BJP from Durg constituency. Pathan constituency always favoured Kurmi candidates and the uncle-nephew belongs to this group. Kurmi is a subcaste that’s fall under OBC community.
Vijay was in Congress till 2000 and later joined the saffron party. While Bhupesh has been contesting for the patan seat since 1993.
Vjay Baghel was born on August 15, 1959 in Urla village of Durg district. His political career began in 2000 when he was elected as the Bhilai Muncipal council as an independent candidate. He later than contested election from Pathan constituency as a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) but lost to Bhupesh Baghel. He after joining BJP in 2008 once again contested election from Pathan and won with a huge margin. He was then appointed as the Parliamentary secretary to home minister Nanki Ram Kanwar. In 2019, he contested Lok Sabha election from Durg constituency against Congress’s Pratima Chandrakar and won by a margin of 3,91, 978 votes.
Vijay Baghel has been highly vocal against the congress government in Chhattisgarh. Aiming to repeat the Kurmi win they had in 2008, he has taken all measures to counter the election promises in the constituency. Congress has promised farm loan waiver and Rs 3,200 per quintal of paddy gain traction, while Vijay has decided to stick on to what the center led by PM Modi has done for farmers. He has also accused the chief minister of prompting liquor vends across the state.
As the allegation of graft against chief minister has found some resonance in his home turf, this might turn out to be a gain for Vijay. As both the candidates belongs to one community, there is a greater chance that the vote may get divided, then their fate will be in the hands of Sahu community who account for 35 per cent of the population in Pathan. But to know the outcome, will have to wait till December 3 for the election result to know whether the nephew trounced the uncle for the second time or uncle once again bettered his own electoral record.
