BJP sets up manifesto panel for year-end Chhattisgarh polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday constituted a 31-member panel to draft the manifesto of the opposition party for the year-end Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, where it was in power for 15 years before being trounced by the Congress in 2018. The panel constituted by Chhattisgarh BJP chief Arun Sao will be headed by Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel and will have MLA Shivratan Sharma, former MP Ramvichar Netam and former state minister Amar Agrawal as co-conveners, a party leader said.

"MLAs Krishnamurti Bandhi and Ranjana Sahu, former ministers Lata Usendi, Chandrashekhar Sahu and Mahesh Gagda and IAS-turned-politician OP Chaudhary are among the remaining 27 members," he said.

Baghel, who hails from the Kurmi community, one of the dominant OBC groups in the state, represents Durg parliamentary seat.


The BJP was in power in Chhattisgarh under the chief ministership of Raman Singh between 2003 and 2018.

Crucial developments related to poll preparations are being witnessed in the BJP after Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with state leaders on July 5.

It, on Friday, appointed senior leader Om Mathur, who is the party's in charge for Chhattisgarh, as the election in charge of the state while Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya was appointed as the joint in charge for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls.

On Saturday, BJP president J P Nadda nominated two party leaders from Chhattisgarh, Vishnudeo Sai and Dharamlal Kaushik, to the organisation's national executive.