Judeo episode has dimmed BJP's chances

The cash on camera scam involving former Union minister Dilip Singh Judeo may well have crushed Bharatiya Janata Party's hopes of unseating Ajit Jogi.

Politically the controversy could not have come at a more opportune time for Jogi. The BJP on its part, had swung into a damage control exercise with Judeo resigning from the Union ministry and the Centre ordering a CBI probe into the affair.

In the run up to the elections, both the Congress and BJP are trading charges against each other but the people have expressed a strong dislike for the 'increasing greed' of the political class.

In Marwahi, the constituency of Jogi, a tea stall owner Ramesh Baghel was ignorant about the much talked about tape.

But Gajendra Sahu, a high school teacher in Seoni was full of anger against the political class indulging in large-scale corruption. "Sabhi neta log aise hi hote hain (all leaders are like this)," he said.

But in Bilaspur, Prabhakar Honap, a retired employee of Indian Railways claimed that the entire controversy smacks of politics. "Since elections are round the corner, everybody is discussing it but after the polls nobody will remember it," he said nonchalantly.

But the reaction of Raipur-based Ajit Verma, who recently completed his MBA, was pragmatic.

"Now-a-days it is not possible to run a family with the income of a single member. How can a political party be run without seeking money from industrialists?" he asked.

But the controversy would not have any impact on the elections. Here development of the newly-carved state, poverty and unemployment are the major issues, they said.