Chhattisgarh elections: BJP's Lata Usendi hits out at Congress

KONDAGAON (Chhattisgarh): Former Women and Child Development Minister of Chhattisgarh, Lata Usendi today cast her vote in Kondagoan from where she is the BJP Candidate.

After exercising her franchise, the former Minister attacked the Bhupesh Baghel led Congress government in the state. Slamming the grand old party for its involvement in corruption, Usendi said that the only party that can take the state forward is the BJP.

Coming down heavily on Congress, Usendi said that "be it coal, liquor or the Mahadev app, the way Congress indulged in corruption is very disappointing". She further claimed that "it is just the BJP that can take forward the development of the state". On the recent Mahadev app controversy, the BJP leader said that "Lakhs and crores of money is being looted by the Congress.

Every section of the society is disappointed with the party". Usendi accused the Baghel-led government of being involved in the corruption every now and then." She also claimed that there has been no development in her constituency, Kondagaon.

Lata Usendi is up against the sitting MLA Mohan Markam of the Congress in this constituency. Voting for the first phase of the Chattisgarh Assembly Elections, involving 20 seats in the state's southern region, began on Tuesday.

The constituencies which are going for polls in the first phase include Pandaria, Kawardha, Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur, Chitrakote, Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta.

Notable figures such as former Chief Minister Raman Singh is seeking re-election from his seat in Rajnandgaon, and State Minister Kawasi Lakhma, who is running again from Konta, where he the sitting MLA.

There are a total of 223 candidates in the fray for 20 seats. 5304 voting booths have been set up by the election commission for this phase. There are 40 lakh, 78 thousand, and 681 voters in this phase.

Of these, there are 19 lakh, 93 thousand, 937 male voters and 20 lakh, 84 thousand, 675 female voters. The counting of votes is scheduled for December 3.