New Delhi: Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo on Monday took a dig at the BJP for fielding sitting MPs in assembly elections. He said that the saffron party doesn't have confidence in the talent pool of the states and that is why it is fielding Lok Sabha MPs in assembly elections.


Earlier in the day, BJP released its second list of candidates for the state assembly elections, showcasing a roster of 64 contenders, hours after the Election Commission announced assembly poll dates for Chhattisgarh and four other states.


Speaking to ANI, Deo said, "I have seen this rarely in my political career where MPs are being fielded(by BJP) in state elections, the signal that I am getting from this is that BJP doesn't have confidence in the talent pool of the states...national athletes are being made to contest in smaller tournaments."








The saffron party has so far declared candidates for 85 seats with just five nominees left to be named.


On Sunday, Deo told ANI that the Congress government in the state has successfully controlled Naxalism in the last five years. "Recently a Naxal incident came up, an incident also surfaced from Ujjain at the same time. Such incidents are less related to the government and more related to morbid psychology. If the government knows that something is going to happen and they don't take action, then it is the government's responsibility. But when a person with a morbid mentality commits such crimes, which government can predict this?"


The Naxal-affected state will have a two-phase polling on November 7 (20 seats) and November 17 (70 seats) to elect a new 90-member assembly. 




In the previous state elections held in 2018, the Indian National Congress (INC) managed to secure a landslide victory, ending 15 years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. The INC won 68 out of the 90 assembly seats and the BJP, on the other hand, faced a significant setback, securing only 15 seats. This electoral victory of the Congress party led to the formation of the government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.