Raipur/New Delhi
The Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS), a Chhattisgarh-based tribal outfit, has decided to contest the Assembly elections later this year in the State.
The SAS has decided to field candidates in the tribal-dominated Bastar and Surguja regions and if it succeeds in having its way, then it could impact the equations in about 30-32 of the total 90 Assembly seats in the State. Chhattisgarh has 29 Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
The SAS’ decision and confidence stem from its showing in the Bhanupratapur byelections, whose results were announced in December last year. Akbar Ram Korram, its candidate who fought as an independent, polled16 percent votes cornering over 23,000 votes to come third.
The Congress, which wants to retain power, had a dominating performance bagging around 45 percent votes while the BJP, eyeing to seize back its lost State, polled 30 percent votes.
SAS’ entry is a cause of concern for both the BJP, and the Congress for which Chhattisgarh is one of the only three States where it’s in power, with Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan being the other two.
In 2018, the BJP was ousted after three terms in power as its tribal voters shifted allegiance to the Congress in large numbers. An analysis by Chanakkya, a political consultancy firm, points out that BJP lost 8.6 percent of its vote share in 2018 compared to 2013 Assembly elections with Congress being the major beneficiary gaining more than 6.4 percent.
The drop for BJP is further accentuated when one looks at their vote share compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections (drop of more than 16.4 percent), it says adding in areas like Bastar and Jashpur districts, the Congress gained 9.6 percent and 13.1 percent in vote share terms respectively thereby squeezing out smaller parties apart from the BJP.
It is here that the SAS could spoil the game for both the national parties. If it eats into major chunks of tribal voteshare, it would not only negate the Congress’ 2018 advantage but also dash the BJP’s hopes of a return of the adivasi voters to its fold.
Bastar division has 12 constituencies, with 11 of them reserved for STs. It is said the road to power in the State passes through tribal-dominated Bastar and SAS believes it has a good chance of upsetting the BJP and Congress apple cart in the 12 seats here and that could be the gamechanger.
The tribal outfit plans to float a political party and apply for a symbol for the party. “Considering the experience of the Bhanupratappur bye-election and to live up to the dream of late tribal leader Sohan Potai, we have decided to contest this election by launching a political party. Almost all the preparations in this regard have been completed and deliberation is ongoing for the selection of a symbol,” news agency ANI quoted SAS executive state president B S Rawte.
“During the Bhanupratappur by-election, we faced problems while carrying out publicity campaigns due to the unavailability of a symbol,” he said.
On the reason behind the decision to take a plunge in the electoral arena, Rawte said, “SAS had worked extensively by focusing on the problems, which unfolded during the tenure of BJP, and extended its support to Congress, which assured of resolving them. Instead of being solved during the Congress rule, problems flared up. They (Congress) had promised to release the 5,000 tribal people from jail but no action was taken in this direction,” he said.
The issue of reservation and others irked the tribal population and Congress will face the heat of this during the coming elections, pointed Rawte even as he asserted on alliance, “The SAS will not go with any big party”. “We are exploring the prospect and have talked with like-minded parties and are preparing to develop a strong third front by entering into an alliance with small parties,” he added.
The BJP and the Congress neither downplayed SAS’ presence nor refused any alliance with it if things come to such a pass. The Congress is beset with internal fighting with a senior leader TS Singhdeo posing a challenge to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s leadership while the BJP doesn’t have a viable alternative to its tallest leader in the State, former Chief Minister Raman Singh.
