The BJP has fielded former IAS Chandra Mohan Meena from Bassi constituency in Rajasthan. The party has also given tickets to two former IAS officers in Chhattisgarh – O P Choudhary and Neelkanth Tikam
While Choudhary has been named from Raigarh, Tekam will contest from Keshkal.
Rajasthan's Chandra Mohan Meena is a 1980 batch IAS officer who has been chief information commissioner after getting retired as additional chief secretary in 2014. He is known to be aligned with BJP but joined the party only in June this year.
BJP appointed Meena as co-convener of state election management committee. Now the party has given him the ticket on a seat which BJP has not been able to win since 2008.
The existing MLA Laxman Meena is a retired IPS officer who contested independent. In 2003 Kanhaiya Lal Meena was the last to win on BJP ticket. In 2008 and 2013 Anju Devi Dhanka won the seat as independent. Then in 2018 also independent candidate Laxman Meena won beating BJP's Kanhaiya Lal Meena.
Chandra Mohan Meena has a clean image and is a strong candidate on a seat where Meena, Dhanka and dalit votes are in majority. His contest will be directly to Laxman Meena who has made strong base in the constituency.
1500 kms away in Chhattisgarh, the saffron party has put its trust on two bureaucrats. BJP's senior leader from Rajasthan and RSS strongman O P Mathur is the incharge of Chhattisgarh. He picked up O P Choudhary who joined BJP in 2018 and contested election in that year itself. But he lost the election by a huge margin.
Choudhary, who joined civil services at the age of 24, is said to be close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his association with the BJP leader is believed to be the reason why he joined politics.
A 2005 batch IAS officer, Choudhary resigned from service after competing just 13 years in 2018. A young politician and a trained bureaucrat Choudhary is a promising prospect for BJP. He is contesting from Rajgarh where he retired as the district collector.
Meanwhile, Neelkanth Tikam who has been fielded from Chhattisgarh's Keshkal was prmomoted to IAS officer from state services in 2008. He was posted as a Collector in Kondagaon for over two years. He joined the BJP this year after resigning from service. He is still left with four years of service.
The BJP chose him to contest from Keshkal, which comes under the Kondagaon district, as he had worked in the region for several years and was familiar with it
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
