Congress managed to win over OBCs in Chhattisgarh

New Delhi: The Congress sweep in Chhattisgarh is being credited to the party’s strategy to assiduously woo the other backward classes (OBCs), who account for 45% of the state population and had been supporting the BJP since 2003.

It helped that the Congress always had an OBC as the head of the party unit in the state, and even after the entire state leadership was wiped out in a Maoist attack in 2013, the party encouraged a second line of leadership from among OBCs.

Bhupesh Baghel, the tall Kurmi leader who led from the front in uprooting the BJP government of Raman Singh which had ruled the state for 15 years, had taken over from the acting state unit chief Charan Das Mahant.


Closer to the election, the Congress analysed every seat through the prism of sub-castes among OBCs. Sahus, who are numerically the most significant among OBCs, were actively wooed by the party. Congress president Rahul Gandhi hand-picked Durg MP Tamradhwaj Sahu to head the party’s OBC department and then promoted him as a member of Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party.

While the BJP gave Sahus 14 tickets, the Congress gave tickets to eight from the community. Eight Kurmis also got tickets. One of the biggest decisions was giving one ticket to an OBC from Kewat-Malha sub-caste, so far absolutely unrepresented, in Gunderdehi.

Kunder Singh Nishad won by a 50,000 margin. Three Yadavs were given tickets, and all three won.